


OVERLORD Side adventures Vol.2

by DDDGGG



Category: Overlord - Maruyama Kugane & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 18:17:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 82,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21183860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DDDGGG/pseuds/DDDGGG
Summary: Picks up where my side OVERLORD:Side Adventures Vol.1 leaves off (please read that first). Shalltear assembles a team to explore the deep chasm in the earth where the dwarves once lived. Also The Blue Roses are after a bandit group that is masquerading as them and trying to ruin their name. Finally, agents of Nazarick are given an important task.





	1. PROLOGUE

The maid walked down the empty halls of Nazarick adjusting her glasses. She looked around with a small sigh. Her beloved Nazarick was usually so full of life and energy, but as Their Lord and Master Ainz Ooal Gown now had his sights set on two new areas of interest... a large amount of Nazarick was out on work. Just about every floor guardian was busy preparing for their respected missions. As this was the first time Nazarick would be this "open to enemy attack" Their Lord was also busy summoning wave after wave of high-level guardians using his mana and money. Albedo had suggested "extreme overkill" when Lord Ainz asked her how many mercenary guardians he should fill Nazarick up with. In all reality, Nazarick would probably safer during this time of 'medium alert'. As these creatures were considered largely "expendable" so more " direct and brutal" methods of attack would suffice if anyone was so foolish as to try and attack this fortress of power.

"Where the heck is she..." Yuri Alpha grumbled as she looked for Solution Epsilon. While most of Nazarick was busy preparing for their 'adventures', The "Pleiades Battle Maids" were still on 'Nazarick' duty, even as Solution had escort duty lined up later on for Shizu, she still should be around getting ready for that. The only place Solution could be was her office... but she only used her office for..." Yuri let out a disgusted sigh as she now realized that's exactly where she was... she turned around and headed for Solutions personal office. Honestly, those two... she better not Make Lady Shalltear and herself late!

Solution Epsilon walked alongside her 'little sister'. Shizu was excited, not that you could tell, but Solution had been around her long enough to know that Shizu was looking forward to going back to the Holy Kingdom, if only for a day.

"You really like this Neia person that much Shizu?" Solution asked the little girl clad in camo maid armor. Shizu silently nodded "yes" before speaking.

"Yes, she wasn't very cute when we met." She said. Solution cocked her eyebrow dubiously, Shizu would not normally give something she deemed "not cute" the time of day.

"Yet... the more we talked... the cuter she became. I became interested." Shizu said in an emotionless voice. Solution looked again at her... had she missed something? Why would Shizu talk so highly of someone not from Nazarick? She frowned, this Neia... better not try and take her little sister from her. To that end, she wanted to see this Neia for herself.

"So you don't mind me coming with you?" Solution asked Shizu shook her head.

"It would be nice for you two to talk... but really..." She kinda trailed off a bit.

"Just want to see Neia..." She said finally. Solution frowned even deeper. Was she simply jealous of Shizu and Neia's relationship? It's true that out of all The Pleiades Maids, while they all loved and doted on Shizu like she was their little sister... Solution and her "clicked" the least. It wasn't that they didn't get along, it's just they never had anything to talk about. But as neither were highly emotional individuals this was a non-issue, but it bothered Solution to think there might be another that Shizu liked more than her... one of her fellow Pleiades! Shalltear passed them in the hallway but upon seeing Solution she averted her course to walk alongside the two Pleiades maids.

"Good evening ladies!" Shalltear said with a smile to the girls. They both nodded hello. As they walked Shalltear saddled up closer behind Solution so only she would hear her speak lowly.

"So uh Solution, when will you be free to do that thing I like?" Shalltear whispered softly, her face showing signs of blushing. Solution smiled, she had been spending a lot of her, required, "free time" with Shalltear as they had a lot in common. Solution laughed slightly and gave her a look.

"Do you want too..." Solution said silently pointing to her stomach with a mischievous smile.

"Or do you want me to..." She then pointed down to the floor. Shizu just rolled her one eye, she would never understand such 'lewd acts'. Shalltear Blushed even harder and a smile ran up her pure white face.

"I uh... don't think we have time to..." Shalltear said pointing to Solution's stomach. They each gave one another a sly grin.

"But if you don't mind a fast..." She giggled as her finger pointed down. Solution nodded to her friend.

"Well I was just on my way here to escort Shizu to The Holy Kingdom, but we're not going to leave for another hour..." Then Solution leaned toward Shalltear and lowered her voice.

"...so I guess we could get in a quick one before I leave!" She told her vampire friend, Shalltear began to blush even more slightly and there was a slight skip to her step.

"Then... then I will go to the usual place?" Shalltear asked. Solution nodded and turned to speak to Shizu.

"I'm going to... talk with Shalltear for a bit Shizu, I won't take long, so wait for me okay?" The beautiful slime woman asked her friend, Shizu just nodded as they broke company. Solution walked in silence next to Shalltear they headed to a room and entered together. As soon as she got into the room with Shalltear and the door was shut the vampire threw her umbrella into the corner. The room was mostly dark, there were pictures of Ainz on the walls and there was a desk in the center of the room, this was Solution Epsilons personal office, all the maids had a personal room, as Solution never slept, she simply turned it into an office space, but as of late her friend Shalltear and her have found another use for this room...

Without a word Solution and Shalltear went to the center of the room where the desk was, they gave one another a knowing smile before Shalltear dropped to her hands and knees in the "doggy position"... she waited anxiously for what Solution would do to her next, that's when she felt her friends weight press down onto her back, Solution smiled as she sat on Shalltears back and crossed her legs. As she looked lazily at some of the documents in front of her. And for the next thirty minutes or so Solution caught up on some writing and notes she'd been meaning to get done, all the while using her panting and blushing friend as a chair. Every now and again she would feel Shalltears spine crack a bit and a shudder of pleasure would run through her favorite piece of furniture. Sometime Shalltear would begin to make some low moaning noise, at which point Solution would have to "remind" her friend that chairs do not talk, they only get sat on!

"Hmmm... it would seem my chair has developed a creaking noise!" Solution said in exaggerated annoyance as she smiled and applied significantly more pressure to her "chair". A loud squeal of pleasure was cut off by its owner as 'Shallchair' tried her best to please the one sitting on 'it' in practice for when her Lord Ainz would once again "don his true throne". Solution had discovered from experience what would happen if she applied any more pressure to her "chair". And they simply did not have time for that so...

They spent the next twenty more or so minutes in such a state until alas, it was time to go.

The two women exited Solution office with smiles plastered across their lovely faces. But met a maid that was not too happy. Shalltear shot an "uh-oh busted look" to Solution over her shoulder before walking away.

"So if you are quite finished "doing your office work". Yuri said as her adjusting of glasses intensified.

"Shizu is waiting for you." She finished before turning around and heading to her next destination. Solution gave a sorry look but smiled coyly at the same time.

"If you ever need help with your personal "office work" Yuri I could "lend a hand," she said teasing her boss, she knew just the kind of reaction she would get. Yuri simply turned and let out a...

"Humph!" And walked away rolling her eyes.

Solution saw Shizu waiting for her by the caster that would use [GATE] to send them to The Holy Kingdom. The strange bird creature waved as they approached and began casting his spell, he had been told where exactly to send the [GATE]. the two maids walked through the portal, instantly the weather changed and they were in a room with two guards in bright armor and a young girl wearing a green armor adorned with a red scarf and a bow slung across her back greeted them waving enthusiastically at Shizu.

CHAPTER ONE: Uncanny Likenesses

"Looks like it will be hot again..." A very young man said pointing to the blazing sun, his blue eye squinting at the light. Upon his head was a gold circlet that radiated a self-healing light to all that stood by him, it made his blonde hair even more yellow looking. He wore armor that flashed with red light and felt weightless yet even adamantite blades would not leave a knick or scratch. The gloves were matching red but made from leather, yet were just as hard as mythril, maybe even stronger somehow. On his back were two swords that shone like they were made from metal rainbows. His black leather pants had thin plates of some kind of metal plates attached to them. His boots left snowy footprints, even though they walked upon the warm and hilly region of The Slane Theocracy under a beating hot sun.

"I don't mind, ever since I got this baby I always feel nice and comfortable." A slender teenage youth said he was the brother to the one who just spoke and looked almost exactly like him if not five or so years younger and about a foot shorter. He pointed to one of his two magical rings. His bow that he had strapped to his back was made of some kind of white translucent wood, and his leather armor looked very plain. Yet, whenever he stood in the direct sunlight one could make out the faint image of ghost-like plate armor adorned onto him, just as hard as his brother's red armor was yet could not even be felt when worn. Oddly enough he had no quiver or arrows to go along with the amazing bow.

The third person in the group did not say a word. He or she looked more spooky than impressive. Even though their black hooded coat that coved even the face was made of some unknown amazing fabric. To its side were three throwing daggers, one lit up like the fire, the other ice, the third like lightning. To the other side of the dark figure was a shortsword that had an invisible blade. This person was the oldest among the three noble blooded adventure team Dead Gods Incarnate. Adamntite plate adventure tags hung from all three of their necks.

The one in the flashy red armor was about to say something to his little brother when the sound of a roaring wave belonging to the ocean beaches raged from one side of them unexpectedly. To match the sound, all three members of this new adamantite adventure team saw a giant wave at least eight or nine feet tall about to crash upon them. Instead of leaping into action like any true adamntite team would, the three just stood there dumbfounded by this ocean wave about to hit them appearing in the middle of a dry and hot hilly area. In landed down on them with enough force to send all three flying helplessly along its path. they tried to cry out in shock but lung full of water is all they received.

Finally, as the wave knocked them to the ground and ran its course over them they could breathe. All three coughed and belched out salty seawater as they lay huddled over gasping for air and stunned from the surprise attack. They had no idea that two matching ninja twins were silently and invisibly removing all the weapons and trinkets of power these adventurers. They did this easily by using some kind of high-level ninja talent. The matching young girl ninjas had their blonde hair tied back in ponytails, they had light cloth armor and each wore masks to cover their faces. One had a blue scarf while the others was red.

Once all the stealable items and weapons were gathered the matching ninja twins ran to the direction the giant wave had come. There stood another woman in her mid-twenties, her long blond hair was tied into two nice twin tails, and upon her head was a crown with a blue rose attached to it. her sword was the length of her and it was deep blue with an image of a wave etched along the side of it. She wore impressive looking red and silver armor that shone with amazing craftsmanship.

"Good work girls." This woman said as another large figure emerged from nowhere at all, in truth it had been flying and was hovering in the air the whole time using an amulet with a wing hanging from it. This person was probably a man due to the size but it had large breasts sticking out of the chest plate. The entire adamntite plate armor was red and had a menacing-looking helmet coving the whole head and face. In its hands were a giant and impressive war hammer with a spike attached to the end of it. They stood menacingly over the coughing siblings.

"Hurry up and strip them, that armor they have looks expensive, it'll fetch a nice price." A small girl said. She hovered down behind the defeated group also flying. She had a tattered but still impressive looking red cloak all around her body, all that could be made out behind it was a black suit and black boots. Her face was covered with a magical white mask with slits for eyes barely visible. Her light brown bangs hung in front of the mask. The large red armored man began removing the magically enchanted clothes and armor from the brothers, they only took the magic gear and of course, all their gold.

"I hate to do this to you boys, but we heard you were looking to turn us into the authorities, and we can't be having that." the woman holding the dark blue greatsword said as she helped collect the stolen equipment, the three gave no protest, understanding they had been defeated. And just as fast as they had come, this bandit group that looked like The Blue Roses were gone. The naked and broke brothers decided they had had enough of the adventure life and wanted to go back home.

Many miles away and sometime after this event, a blonde woman in a white dress smiled. The streets of E-Rantel were alive with business and trade. Some dwarves could be seen yelling directions at some working undead to "pick up the pace" which was an order they just gave out of habit as the undead would always work to the best of their capabilities. The golden-haired princess looked over at her bodyguard and her puppy. The one who joined her service shortly after the rise of the Sorcerer Kingdom, Brian did not look particularly pleased at the moment, whereas her puppy was staring wide-eyed and in awe, at the progress, E-Rantel had made. She knew why, but it would be fun to make him say it out loud, plus her little dog didn't seem to be picking up on Brain's sour mood.

"You seem upset, is everything okay Brain?" Princess Renner asked in a dignified tone. Even though she had directed the question to Brain, the blonde-haired boy next to him straightened up and became serious. "So cute." She thought the way he would always pretend at playing soldier. Brain however just frowned more.

"I never cared for this town... less so now." Brain said as he looked at a Death Knight standing guard. Renner could never understand why people were always so unnerved by The Sorcerer Kings undead. She sighed inwardly, it was just the nature of people to group everything up into one pile and throw a simple label over it. She understood that most people didn't view the world from her perspective. Climb looked like he wanted to begin barking but his owner raised her hand at the puppy to keep it's voice down.

"You are reminded of that time?" Renner asked Brain. He looked out the window.

"Of course, the day I witnessed His majesty use his most powerful spell... it was the same day he was lost." Brain said scowling now more than frowning. Renner knew of how Brain felt about Gazef, but it didn't matter.

"His most powerful spell? Hmm, I wonder about that." She said in a bored tone. Both of men looked at her with a shocked looked, they understood when Renner spoke, it was always for a reason, even if they were not privy to such reasons themselves.

"No, I very much doubt that was his most powerful... maybe his favorite, or one he just chose because it had suitable "shock and awe" value, but I am very certain The Sorcerer King sits on power more... efficient than the one with the black goats... " She said still bored and looking out the window of the carriage as it trotted lazily down E-Rantel's streets. Both men looked as if they had eaten something terrible, her puppy was scared and stopped "wagging its tail". This made her frown, her little pups was so much cuter when he was looking at her with those eyes.

"Why, do you say that?" Climb asked.

"Because those things he summoned vanished after some time right? A dead body is important to a necromancer as a resource, it seems to me. If I had an entire army of 'resources' at my disposal, to consume so many that would just go to waste after their purpose was served... no, The Sorcerer King could have killed that entire army easily and still have access to all those bodies, the fact that they were never returned upon the disappearance of the black goat's means he was simply making a point. She said as she practiced her 'sweet princess smile #5'. The color of both men's face seemed to drain. But she simply shook her head.

"Oh don't worry, as his "point was made" I doubt we'll see anything like that ever happen again." Her puppy seems to feel better but her guard was still in a foul mood, some things can't be helped. But it seemed he was thinking of another thing, oh it was probably that thing people were saying about them.

"Are you bothered by the rumors?" The Princess asked. Brain clicked his tongue but Climb just shot up to attention, he knew what rumors she spoke of and they were... Climbs face began to turn red as he remembered what people would whisper behind their backs. He stammered a bit.

"They uh... are saying, that you... all of... that... we, all um..." She was certain steam would shoot out of his ears any minute, how adorable he was when this embarrassed. She clapped once in joy but as this was a strange reaction it caught their attention back to her and not the images in their heads. But she just laughed.

"Worry not, rumors like this always surface of unpopular royalty". To be honest, it seemed a little too "on the nose" for something for her opponents to be saying, it made them sound petty and gossipy, which was one of the reasons she spread such rumors.

"Still, why are we meeting The Blue Roses here?" Climb asked, usually they would come to the palace to meet with Renner if she needed them, but she was going to E-Rantel to meet with them, it was odd Climb thought.

"Well as you know, His Majesty is holding a gathering for all the... "up and coming nobles" of The Kingdom, I was actually asked to be in attendance for this event. She explained smiling.

"So after our meeting with the Blue Roses, I will stay for a day longer for this event." Both men seemed satisfied with her answer. But to be honest she was most looking forward to seeing Albedo at some point in private. Princess Renner had always longed for someone like her, someone who understood that there was only "one thing that mattered." And someone who she could talk freely to without any judgment. If she knew that she would also have gained a best friend from her unknown betrayal, she would not have waited the 3.6 seconds she did wait before answering the demon in an orange suit about her answer to her actions.

Their carriage pulled up to an extravagant hotel they would be staying at and her servants opened the door and helped her out of the carriage in a manner fitting a Princess. Escorted by her guard she made for the hotel lobby.

"Princess Renner? Why they said you'd be speaking but I didn't expect to see you at the same place i was staying at!" She wondered just who the heck would address her so loudly and without any class. As to answer her question a man, comically ran his way over to the group.

"Yes, um..."Renner asked, his name not coming to her. He frowned a tad wiping the sweat from his forehead that had developed form him running across the lobby.

"Princess Renner surely you jest! You know me, PHILLIP, I'm one of the up and coming nobles in your father's kingdom!" The man said splaying out his hands and opening his arms for a hug. Renner withdrew away from him and scowled. As soon as Brain saw that this man was a bother. He knew what to do immediately. He silently walked up behind the man and in a chummy but still rough manner slapped his arm over Phillips' shoulders.

"HEY!... YOU!" Brain said in an overly friendly way, the man was startled and let out an "eek" He was not expecting to be approached like this.

"You... you must be that guy that, I've heard SO much about right?" Brain said walking with the man and forcefully leading him away from the party, oddly enough the man seemed more than willing to answer Brain.

"Oh, well yes, Indeed, it's not a surprise I'm so popular around here!" He began, Brain looked back over his shoulder in an "I got this manner" Renner bowed slightly to thank him for jumping on this particular dull blade for her.

"Riiiight! So, tell me, what are your plans for your um... place?" Brain said trying to guess this man was someone who had land of some kind... at the very least. Again, he was all too eager to indulge in conversation about himself. Renner smiled a mouthed a silent "thank you." As she and Climb made their way past the lobby and to the room they had on reserve. Upon entering they saw The Blue Roses, well at least two of them.

"Hope you don't mind, we got here a little before you so took the liberty of providing the refreshments." A young blonde woman said wearing amazing leather armor and wielding a dark and mysterious blade on her back. This was the "blue blood" noblewoman turn adamantite adventure Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra. She motioned to a spread of food that was suitable for the company in the room which was brightly lit. But there was one who sat away from the bright window, she was wrapped in a red cloak and had a weird mask covering her face she did little to greet the ones who entered.

"I was expecting your newest showpiece to be here..." The masked girl said noting that Brain Unglaus had not entered with the princess. Princess Renner just sighed and shook her head.

"Yes, I'm afraid he is currently 'doing battle' with a would-be assassin." She said smirking (this was funny smirk #2, a personal favorite of hers). The two members of Blue Roses suddenly looked serious but calmed down when they saw Renner's smirking. They exchanged glances and shrugged.

"Well, we all know why this meeting is happening?" Renner asked looking at the two adventures. The smile disappeared from Lakyuse's beautiful face. Renner nodded as Evil Eye became visibly agitated.

"The "Blue Rose Bandits"?" Evil Eye said in a growl. Renner nodded. There had been a group of, oddly powerful, bandits cropping up lately, and one such powerful bandit team had the gall to masquerade as the blue roses when robbing carriages and merchants on the roads they traveled on. When reports of "The Blue Roses turned bandit brigade" began surfacing The Adventures Guild took great steps to prove that the real Blue Roses were nowhere in the area of the robberies. Plus minor discrepancies here and there also lent to the innocence of the real Blue Roses.

"So what do we know of them exactly, or rather, what have you been able to find out?" Lakyus asked the princess.

"Well, as far as looks go, they look just like you guys, mostly..." Princess Renner said.

"Mostly?" Evil Eye asked.

"Well as for you Madam Evileye, while your mask makes you easy to duplicate, as does your robe, her color of hair was noted to be "brown" not "blonde" as is yours." Evileye lifted up a strand of her long blonde hair that hung aside the mask."I see..." she thought to herself.

"The one pretending to be you Lady Lakyus... Well her weapon was noted to be very powerful, but not on the same level as yours, also it's worth mentioning that men who had been robbed that have seen you say she "isn't as pretty as the real one". Lakyus blushed a bit but quickly returned serious.

"As for you're um, "sneaky friends," Renner said looking around the room, expecting one of the ninja twins to pop up, but they did not.

"While both have similar body structure as them, they are not a perfect match as twins would be, the skin tone was off slightly, also they wear face masks to hide their faces, clearly not twins, but both highly skilled in the same field as them. Lakyus frowned as did Evileye under her mask.

"Finally there is um ahem Gagaran..." Renner said with an odd tone.

"Her double seems to have the same armor has her, but wears a helmet to hide the fact that it's actually a man under there." Climb could be heard snickering a bit. He knew how..."not well" the real Garagan would take that. Lakyus thought for a bit then nodded at Evil Eye.

"Well, I see why you asked us to take care of them." But Renner shook her head.

"No, we originally intended to have Sir Momon and his 'beautiful princess' handle them, but it would seem Sir Momon was not able to take the job, the reason being is that they... rival The Real Blue Roses in power... somehow." Evil Eye scoffed but Lakyus nodded. It was a disturbing trend, strong adventures and bandit teams were crawling out of the woodwork... it was like there was some "big secret" that weaklings were finding that elevated them because the strength always seems to come from their gear as opposed to personal strength like true 'heroes'. BUt Evil Eye had just perked up.

"Is uh... sir Momon... here, um nearby?" She asked her arms betraying how she felt as they were clenched in a wistful pose. Lakyus smiled, she knew all too well how Evil Eye would always 'lose herself' around the mysterious armor-plated hero.

"No, sadly he said he was called away to do some... "cave exploring deep underground". So we can only imagine when he will return. The pep left Evil Eye and she returned to her serious demeanor.

"Then all that's left is to tell us their last known location." For the first time, Renner frowned. The news was bad.

"They were last seen... wiping out the new Adamantite team from the Slane Theocracy..."Dead gods Incarnate" near the border of The Slane Theocracy and the Empire." Renner continued in a tone that carried a lot of weight with it. Lakyus also frowned now, they were the newest team of "adamntite upstarts" but reported to very strong, for them, to lose and nobody to hear of it means The Theocracy or even the adventures guild or both were keeping this news quite... this "fake Blue Roses" were dangerous indeed.

"As they have hit all over the place in many different countries, all but The Sorcerer Kingdom, their current location does not matter as everyone agrees they need to be stopped immediately." She said handing them a scroll with some information they might use to track down the bandit group. Both adventurer women stood up immediately, it was clear they wanted to get this mission over with as fast as they could.

"As for pay..." Renner said about to wrap everything up, but the two women were already leaving the room.

"Just pay the adventures guild for all the hard work they've done for us in keeping our names clear. As for us, this is obviously very personal, we don't need compensation." Evileye said speaking for the members that were not present before exiting the room completely. Climb was glad his presence had been overlooked by Evil Eye, she was usually very curt with him, but he was especially glad Garagan had not made the meeting, although he secretly wondered if she would have a new nickname for him with all the recent rumors spreading around. Princess Renner stayed in her chair thinking about something before Brain walked in, joining her and sitting where Lakyus had just been. Back outside the door, the two adventure women spoke in low tones.

"So, how will we be handling this?" Evileye said keeping her eyes straight as they headed outside the hotel. Lakyus frowned a bit as she was in deep thought.

"Well, I had originally planned to split up the team to search for them, but after hearing how they defeated Dead Gods Incarnate... that would be a bad idea I think, we should try to engage them as a full group," Lakyus told her younger-looking comrade.

"That will be a problem with Garagan all the way in The Holy Kingdom, who knows when she will be done with "her thing," Evileye said coldly. Lakyus nodded.

"Tia and Tina can be here within three or four days if we tell them to drop their search and group up," Evileye said out loud to herself as Lakyus already was aware of this as well.

"So then we gotta do this without a "tank". That's dangerous ." Evil Eye said shaking her head, as a caster she did not like the idea of not being able to hide behind Garagens massive form while casting ranged attacks at the enemy, it was a simple but effective strategy, without her she'd have to use Lakyus has her "meat shield" but as Lakyus also doubled as the teams healer this was a terrible idea as well.

"I actually have an idea on that... there is a woman I did some work with some time ago before we formed The Blue Roses, she's a long way from home but I think she will be willing and able to help us." Lakyus said smiling.

"Another Adventure?" Evileye asked curiously now cocking her head up at her boss.

"No... nothing like that, but she's still very strong, just...not all that smart." The leader of the Blue Roses said frowning a bit.


	2. Preparations

"Shalltear, so have you made your decision?" Ainz asked crossing his fingers of both his hands.

"Indeed Lord Ainz, I have assembled a team, worthy to be called "worthy of Nazarick!" Shalltear proclaimed with pride.

"Good, let's hear who you chose and why," Ainz said leaning back on the throne that he sat upon. Shalltear gave him a deep bow and turned to motion to the floor guardians that had all assembled.

"First as "Team leader" I have chosen Pandora's Actor! Due to his diverse and varied skillset as well as his intelligence, I think he will be able to handle any problem we encounter down there." A man with a bowling ball for a head but wearing a German military hat and matching suit' clicked his heels and walked up behind Shalltear giving a very exaggerated bow.

"I hope to come back with much wealth and interesting treasure, FATHER!" Pandora's Actor said saluting and walking with a straight step to his spot in the line. Ainz seemed more than pleased with this and nodded.

"Second Lord Ainz, to serve as our forward scout and "support" with her pets and because I expect to encounter many magical beasts, I have chosen Aura Bella Fiora!... Get up here shrimp!" Shalltear called even though Aura was already walking up, she "accidentally" stepped on Shalltears dress as she walked past her causing shalltear to momentarily lose balance, she growled at the young dark elf girl who paid her no mind and walked up to Ainz to present herself.

"Aura reporting for duty Lord Ainz! My pets will give us the edge we need!" She said bowing then giving her classic V for victory sign. Shalltear kept her glare onto the girl as she joined Pandora's Actor in line.

"Third, because we will be under the earth, someone who can control said earth would be invaluable to this team, and since I know the two of them to hate to be apart anyway, Mare Bello Fiore. He will also serve as our "caster" as well as "healer" for any fights we may have to engage." Ainz could tell Shalltear had really put a lot of thought into her team and a lot of practice into this speech.

"I, I hope I can be of help to this team!" Mare said beaming with a smile as he ran up to Ainz and hugged him. There were some jealous looks in the crowd who wish Ainz gave them this kind of treatment, especially Albedo. Mare giggled as he joined Aura who gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, they were glad to be on the same team.

"And what's a team without a "tank?" That "gorilla" over there can get hit for everyone, for all I care!" Shalltear said in a dismissive tone.

"As much as I hate to ruin your "team" my duties here..." Albedo began but Ainz shook his head.

"No Albedo, her reason is solid, you are the best tank in Nazarick! And I know that Demiurge can fill in for you when you are off on this adventure!" Ainz said clapping, She blushed.

"Well if Lord Ainz believes that only I can do this, then I will guard the team with my life Lord Ainz!" Albedo squealed and ran to join the group. Bumping Mare out of the way so she could get a better view of Lord Ainz from her spot. Aura scowled at her but Mare shook his head.

"And finally what's a team without a little melee damage! So obviously I want to send... Cocytus... but he tells me he does not have "dark vision" like the rest of us, so alas I must fill that void as our forward melee "Damage dealer". Also, my 'household' will be a fine backup addition to Aura's magical beasts!" Shalltear turned and bowed. Ainz stood up and clapped a few times.

"Excellent Shalltear! You have covered all your bases I see! This is good because from what Pe Riyuro tells me, from rumors the monsters down there could easily be over level 100! So if that's the case you all must be on your best performances!" Aniz said nodding to the group.

"Will you be taking any 'mercenary' units with you?" Ainz asked. Shalltear shook her head "No".

"As none of us will need to neither eat, drink or sleep, supplies will be limited to Healing potions and mana potions as well the odd items here and there like infinite rope and scrolls for [MESSAGE] and others, as well as [FLY] necklaces for all of us as well. I think if we had a large caravan of troops, we would attract more attention from beasts..." Shalltear finally concluded. Ainz agreed and gave them some words of encouragement before getting up and leaving. The newly assembled team turned and began talking.

"This should be a lot of fun! I can't wait" Aura said snickering, Mare looked at her and nodded with a smile. Pandora's Actor rose one arm to point to the whole group.

"I will not fail us! This will be a tale passed down through the ages by the ones of Nazarick!" He said clutching his fists. Albedo just scoffed at Shalltear.

"At least I won't have to take orders from this tramp!" Albedo said to Pandora's Actor and flicking her hair in the direction of Shalltear. Aura shook her head.

"C' mon Mare, we gotta get out supplies ready!" And the two elves ran off. Mare stopped then turned to Shalltear.

"Oh! Can I bring my elf slaves?" Mare asked, Shalltear looked puzzled but understood the need for "servants".

"Well as i will be bringing my Vampire Brides, I don't see why not, OH! Maybe they can 'play' together!" Shalltear said with a grin on her face, Mare laughed.

"Yeah! I wanna watch them have fun together!" The innocent and ignorant child said.

"Mare, no..." Aura tried to say something as she picked up on the implications of what Shalltear meant. But decided to just let it go and keep an eye on "Shalltear idiot".

"But still, I'm surprised you choose to have me around you for this team of yours." Albedo said to Shalltear. Shalltear just gave a smug laugh and grin.

"I can put personal feelings aside for the betterment of Nazarick, unlike 'some' people." She said snickering back to her rival in love.

"What did you say you tramp?" Albedo yelled becoming furious. the look on Shalltears face just brightened.

"Oh? proving me right already? Oh, my Albedo I thought you had more tact than that!" Shalltear said mockingly, but as she hit the nail on the head, to further this argument would only prove Shalltear more right, Albedo scowled but remained silent as she turned away to get her own preparations in order.

"I will head to the treasury! Lord Ainz has allowed me to take as much "none supreme beings gear" as I want! This will take some time I'm afraid!" The shapeshifter said rubbing his hands together and vanishing. As shalltear was all that was left she chuckled and head to her room to pack and pick which brides would accompany her. But just then she received a [MESSAGE] from her Lord, Ainz Ooal Gown.

"I have something to give you Shalltear, meet me in my office, come alone." Her dead heart began to flutter at the thought of what this "goodbye present" might be, she ran to the office, forgetting her chest padding was misshapen because of it. When she got to his office she opened the door and ran to him.

"What would you like to do to me...or have me do to you Lord Ainz!" She shrieked with lust in her eyes, But Ainz rejected her like so many times and just produced a bracelet.

"Oh? A wedding band?" Her nose began to bleed a little, she produced a handkerchief to catch it." But he just sighed and continued to say what was planned.

"Listen up Shalltear, I am giving you this "world item" that I have preloaded with my "essence" into it, if you encounter something you cannot beat, if you activate this bracelet you will gain a perfect clone of my body with all of my skills and abilities... even my gear will be yours! Even... this!" Ainz said gesturing to the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown! He handed the bracelet to the shaking hands of Shalltear.

"But Shalltear you must only use this in case of..." Ainz was saying but it was too late Shalltear was already holding the item above her head activating it!

"HAHAHAHAHA!" She cackled with bliss, the thought of actually BEING her lord, it was enough to drive her mad with joy! After a few seconds, there was a flash and the real Ainz Ooal Gown was rendered unconscious and collapsed on his desk as Shalltears body became a perfect clone of her lord. Her hands immediately began running all over her new body feeling every inch of it that her bony hands could! But just as her real fun was about to begin an Eight edge assassin came down and scratch Ainzes arm doing "1 point" of 'damage". The spell was ended and Shalltear was herself again and Ainz rose his head looking in disbelief at the giggling vampire.

"..extreme emergency! Is what I was going to say!" Ainz said flabbergasted until an unseen force calmed him and he spoke calmly once again.

"Well I can see the temptation is too much for you! I... I will have to load a different soul onto that item then." He said shaking his head in disbelief. Shalltear cried but was unable to disobey and temporarily gave up her new world Item so Ainz could put a different essence into it in case she needed more power. When he loaded it with someone he figured would be a help down there he returned it, and told her NOT to use it unless absolutely necessary, to which she agreed.

Two Dark elves ran about getting their supplies and needs in order

"You all ready Mare?" Aura called out, he called back that he was and came running with his brown hood cape on, behind him were three elf slaves who wore very high-grade gear, trinkets and held incredible items of power. They also all had large packs strapped to their backs that were filled with potions and scrolls of every kind. They were all in very good spirits.

"Master Mare thank you for taking us with you!" A red-haired elf said with a bow that could imbue arrows with any kind of power she wanted strung over her back, she was a ranger before captured then bought by, the now dead, worker Erya. Her name was Kali and she loved to pick out Mares cloths for him to wear. She was wearing a brown "halter top" that had a quiver of never-ending arrows attached to the back it, she had a black cape that would offer her very high stealth stats and abilities, she enjoyed showing off her body as she also only wore a small skirt that was just as short as Mares was but brown and tight around her hips. Her necklace would give her incredible bursts of speed and her gloves allow her to shoot arrows at an insanely fast rate. Her boots let her jump as high as she needed to and would also stick to surfaces allowing her to get the perfect archer shot off!

"Yes, Master Mare! We will strive to do our very best!" The blonde elf of the three said, her hair was also short, she was dressed in a dress that was made of incredibly rare metals, and it looked like silver silk but would offer her super protection from melee damage as well as any plate armor of adamantite would. The holy chime staff she held boosted her natural powers of a cleric ten fold and her shining ring gave her enough mana regen to last most fights. She had another ring that would automatically cast [DELAY GREATER TELEPORTATION] if it sensed an enemy teleporting in, it was given to her by Mare who received it from Demiurge off the half-elf girl that hurt Mare and Aura. Her name was Wins and she was the shy one, she reminded Aura of Mare in a lot of ways. She would alway try to help Mare and Aura bath, even though they didn't need help.

"We are so lucky to have a master who is so kind that he cares for us!" The last chipper elf slave said. She wore clothes almost identical to Mares in every way, they were "failed versions" of his gear, but as she was a druid by nature, these "failed" vestments still had untold power for her to tap into. The hemp cape she had that was like Mares would boost her healing powers beyond that of any normal elf druid, He dragon scale top and dress offered her resistance to almost all physical attacks as did it boost her health or "HP" by a lot and the white cloth gloves would also return a large portion of mana used from every spell. She had a necklace that held a single cast of [GATE] in it that she could use once a day. Her boots that ran up past her knees would give her a barrier that would activate automatically when magic was incoming at her. It could only block one spell once a day but the power of that spell did not matter, unfortunately, she can't control when to use it, so it's easily "baited out". Her staff that again, looked like Mare's was cursed, but in exchange for that curse boasted insane spell buffing power for people around her at the cost of greatly reduced health or "HP". She sported short blueish hair, her name was Nissa and she secretly was waiting for her master to get older so she could ask to be his wife as she was in love with her kind master Mare. Aura smiled at the four of them and gave a thumbs up to show she too was ready.

Albedo looked distraught as she tried to cram yet another "Ainz body pillow" into her "personal dimension" she hoped that three or four would be enough to keep her company underneath the dark ground. But at the same time, she would need to save space for her "Ainz dolls" Oh! the decisions she would need to make!

Pandora's Actor chuckled deeply to himself, he had filled up his "personal dimensional" space with all kinds of weapons and gear anyone could think of, with his many classes he had access to he was able to perfectly use all 899 items of gear and weapons he packed. He picked up one in particular item and tossed it into his pocket before clicking his heels and turning dramatically and teleporting to his waiting group.

Every member assembled at the gate room and all gave a nod as they stepped through, instantly the group was sent to the Quagoa city that stood next to the giant chasm in the deep earth that they would be descending. Pe Riyuro was there to greet them with a jug of never-ending wine strapped to his back that his friend Jircniv had sent him... this was his only item he brought. He was their unofficial "lore guide" as he had amassed many rumors and stories about the chasm, at any rate, he was curious to see what kind of ore he could find for his young down there, and when he heard "the red demon" would be escorting them he felt safe form the monsters 'down there'.

"Come! I will show you where we are descending" He said to the group and they all followed in silence till they came upon a giant scar that ran from one end of the world to the other as far as anyone knew. Aura recognized this place as did Shalltear as they both had ventured through this part of the earth with their beloved Lord Ainz so many years ago. A huge gust of wind ran up from the crack and blew Albedo hair up when she tried to peer down it, she was no longer wearing her white dress but wore a suit of all back armor. Pe Riyuro moving down along the wall.

"You said you were bringing someone who could control the earth? Then I would suggest we start by making stairs leading down, we have no idea how long it will take to go down there, but I don't wanna risk [FLY] wearing off... so it's best to just descend slowly and have a way back up to boot." Pe Riyuro said showing Mare where he wanted to begin, as soon as he did Mare and Nissa began work turning the earth into a slope that would spiral around and around and around until it reached the bottom. This would take some time so they all sat down to watch the two elf druids go to work.


	3. Punishment

Lakyus quickly ate her lunch as they sat on the cart that was taking them to The Fortress of Carne, as The Fortress relied heavily on E-Rantel for supplies and materials one could usually find a cart headed that way from E-Rantel Evileye seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood.

"What's wrong? You're quieter than usual" Lakyus asked her child-sized friend.

"To be honest I'm not entirely crazy about having a Paladin in the team..." Evileye answered her in a depressed tone.

"I understand, but with your ring and that mask, you should be okay," Lakyus said as the cart hit something in the road making it bounce a little. Lakyus narrowed her eyes as she looked up at the sun.

"But still... she isn't the kind of person who just let it go if she did discover your secret... so just be careful," Lakyus said with a frown. Evileye just nodded in acknowledgment. Another cart passed the one they were on with a family on it, a little girl wove enthusiastically at the two adventures, Lakyus returned the wave in kind to humor the little girl.

"So I heard there was quite the commotion at Carne Fortress not too long ago," Evileye said to her team leader.

"Seems some enemy undead army tried to assault the fortress but were easily defeated. I heard nobody even got hurt." She said with a laugh.

"Huh? Then was it some training exercise with The Sorcery Kingdom then?" Evileye asked surprised, not a single injury? That seemed very weird if that attack had been for real.

"I mean, how else would an "army of the undead" show up so close to E-Rantel without The Sorcerer King knowing about it right?" Lakyus said shrugging, Evileye seemed to agree, it had to be a training exercise. They continued in silence until the road came upon a giant black field, there had been a fire here recently, but it only burned in a perfect circle, clearly magic.

"What what is this?" Evileye exclaimed jumping off the cart to inspect the ground, she told her ride to continue on she would not take long.

"Yep, this was magic... and strong magic to boot... did The Sorcery King do this or one of his new maids he acquired in the Holy Kingdom. She clicked her tongue as her fight with the maids came back to her. She had beaten that spider maid mostly due to luck that she knew a spell that was her perfect counter, however, Evileye was a battle veteran, she knew when she ran into the little spider maid again and if she were hostile, she would probably have countermeasures against Evileyes spell. Satisfied she ran after the cart and hopped back on.

"So Lakyus, what's your take on those demon maids The Sorcerer King took control of?" The Vampire asked her boss. Lakyus thought for a moment. Princes Renner said something like this would happen if The Sorcerer King chose to help the Holy Kingdom.

"Well having them not against us is definitely a good thing, but I understand how you must feel about it... Garagan and Tina too." She said as she thought of her friends who died at the hands of the maids former master.

"I've even heard rumors that... when Jaldabaoth revealed his true strength, even Momon would have been hard-pressed to deal with him." Lakyus said solemnly. Evileye scoffed openly.

"We've never even seen Sir Momon get serious! Such a claim is made by idiots who have never been on the battlefield!" Evileye was riled up, she always did when someone bad mouthed her savior.

"I'm just saying, in a battlefield situation with troops and all that, when a caster and warrior of equal power run into one another, who wins that typically?" Lakyus asked in a knowing fashion. It was true, while warriors boasted impressive offensive and defensive techniques, a powerful caster simply had more tricks at their disposal, and if they had someone or something to fall back to, even more, the better.

"It would be the same if you and Garagan fought on a battlefield each with an army at eashes back. If your only goal was to win and you abandoned any thought of honor... how easily would you beat her?" Lakyus asked. Evileye played the battle out in her head and nodded.

"Yeah... I suppose..." She admitted begrudgingly.

"But still... Sir Momon would have found a way to win, let's not forget he would have that "princess" with him as well!" Evileye said, yes as caster she would have been able to support him in that fight.

"Perhaps, unless she was kept busy with the maids, which I'm told seem to be on her level at the least, it would have been a hard fight for a nonranged fighter is all I'm saying." Lakyus pointed out. Evileye just looked away, it doesn't matter anymore she figured. But Lakyus seemed like she had more to say.

"About that... if you saw that maid again, the one you beat, and she was friendly, would you be okay with that?" Lakyus asked. Evil Eye nodded.

"I'd rather not fight her again... she was strong but I was lucky that I knew [VERMIN BANE]. But she would know of it in another battle so... yeah I'd be okay with her if she didn't hold a grudge." Evileye said. Lakyus seemed satisfied with that answer and laid back and closed her eyes.

"I'm gonna take a nap so wake me if anything happens." Evileye didn't say anything for a bit then thought of something.

"Oh, um why is this Paladin Woman at Carne Fortress, or not in the Holy Kingdom at all?" She asked her boss.

"I heard she was particularly rude to the Sorcerer King when he went down there to help them, so this was a kind of punishment... I don't know the details but I've heard she was in The Sorcerer's Kingdom "helping anyone and everyone who asked for it, free of charge." Lakyus explained. Evileye laughed a bit.

"Why would you be rude to a KING that personally saved your land?" Evileye asked shaking her head. Lakyus laughed a bit.

"As I said, she isn't very smart... but her strength makes up for it in a fight, so long as she has a good head to point her in the right direction." Lakyus giggled remember the first fight she fought alongside Remedios years ago.

"Well whatever, I just hope we can recruit her and get back to E-Rantel in time to meet the twins." She said looking off into the distance toward their destination. To the place that the traveling Blue Roses would be arriving in a day or so, a Large wood and metal structure housed many goblins and humans as well as others, in an open training field two silver armor clad individuals fight.

"YYEEEEAAAARRRTT!" Remedios let out a loud cry as she swung her holy blade at the goblin in front of her. He was wearing a shiny bright set of plate armor, he held a golden shield in one hand and a holy-looking war maul in the other, his helmet had the image of wings coming off of it and it covered his face. He resembled a paladin dwarf more than goblin with all his green skin covered. He blocked her strike with his shield parrying it perfect as he spun around and hit the human paladin in her back, she let out a cry of pain and stumbled but rolled forward in recovery, she was expecting the goblin paladin to press the attack but he stood firm letting her get her feet. She spat on the ground and readied herself again.

"How about this!" She said to herself as she charged the short man, but he met her charge with one of his own, and his was faster, Remediouses face met the goblin's shield as all his momentum sent her flying onto her back. With a loud grunt and slam, she hit the earth hard. She once again crawled to her feet as the goblin waited patiently for her to return to their fight.

"His damned shield, it's the only reason he's winning!" She told herself as she looked at her now useless shield with a large war maul shaped dent in it. And again the goblin paladin let her ready herself, he was not mocking her, this was just his personal code of honor, especially against a fellow paladin. It was time to use her "new attack" she had developed. Remedios grabbed her sword and slowly walked back to the goblin. When he swung at her with his maul, instead of dodging she stepped into the strike taking a low stance and brought her sword close to her chest as she got ready for the pian, she took the blow and let out another grunt of but held fast with her powers of defense increased from this skill, she then completed the motion by stepping into the goblins space standing low and bringing her sword straight up into the air, there was a release of built up power and a small explosion sent the short goblin flying straight up into the air about four feet. This was her skill she developed after learning "not all her opponents will be evil" so she developed this strike to use against enemies that were immune to her "holy power". With the goblin helpless in the air she brought the sword down hard across his chest and drove him into the ground with another small explosion, she had expected to see his defeated form, but instead, he was on his feet with a yellow light shield surrounding his body, her follow up attack had been neutralized.

"That was a nice attack! I might have to let you teach me that one!" The goblin paladin praised his opponent.

"But as you introduced special abilities into this duel..." He said with a knowing tone. Suddenly the light shield exploded with radiant energy and holy fire. As this was a karma based attack it did little damage to the other Paladin, but it had a secondary effect of stunning anyone who made contact with the shield, Remedios found it impossible to move, he readied his maul and swung as full force at her exploded head, this attack would be fatal, and it was all she could do but watch in terror as the blunt instrument flew at her paralyzed face.

"I win!" the goblin said as the maul stopped inches from her face and just gave her a light tap on the top of her head, signifying that he could have ended her life just now. She stepped back and bowed deeply.

"Thank you for the duel Sir Goblin, I will take a lot of knowledge away from this fight." She said truthfully wiping the sweat from her brow, a round of applause then rang as did cheers as all the other goblin that were crowded around to watch this fight congratulated her friend on his victory. She took a seat to catch her breath.

"That was a great fight, Miss. Paladin!" A cute little girl with red hair and braid said as she walked up to the defeated paladin. Offering her a glass of water.

"Thank you little one, but honestly, when I heard that there was a goblin paladin here, I didn't expect him to be that strong!" She explained truthfully drinking it in one gulp and returning the glass to the child.

"Oh well, Bardrig is the strongest of all the goblins here, so I wouldn't feel too bad to losing to him." She said trying to pick up the spirits of Remedios, who was doing just fine, she had no problem being bested by another that knew of true justice. After she cleaned up a bit, the general of the Fort approached her.

"That was incredible, I've never seen anyone ever land a hit on Bardrig!" Enri said praising Remedios. She took and shook the general's hand.

"I was just glad to get to fight someone of such power and honor." Finally drying off she told the general.

"We will be having dinner for the army soon, would you care to join us?" Enri offered the Holy Kingdoms hero. Remedios smiled and nodded, she wanted to talk with Bardrig some more about that shield he used.

"Oh and I'll have our blacksmith repair your shield, it should be done by morning when you plan to leave," Enri said with a smile, Remedios bowed and thanked her as the three of them made their way to the mess hall. As they all sat down to eat Bardrig turned to Remedios.

"So are you enjoying your time in The Sorcerer Kingdom?" He asked taking a mouthful of soup. Remedios broke a piece of potato in half that was in her stew before taking a mouthful and nodding.

"To be honest, I was expecting more undead and demihumans to be here, but it seems most are human, with the oddity every here and there. It's not the way it was when we first came here. I still can't approve of undead walking the streets, but the people do at least seem happy, so I can respect that much." She said with a smile, but deep down she was not speaking her total truth. He nodded in an "I get it." way before finishing up his soup before anyone else.

"Well I hope you will stop by here for another duel before heading back to The Holy Kingdom," Bardrig said truthfully. Remedios smiled and nodded, to think she would get along so well with a goblin, but goblins have been known to be civil in certain circumstances, so she wasn't that shocked. After eating they returned to the training field.

"Show me that strike you did again! It was very good!" The goblin said as a large troll ran by the way he was dressed made Remedios sneer, why did he look like that undead litch? But she turned to the goblin and explained her ability, he nodded and smiled.

"You certainly are a powerful warrior, I might even be able to teach you some skills if you were to stay here a month or so." Enri could tell he really enjoyed having another paladin around to talk to that want a goblin. She smiled at her protector.

"As much as I'd love to take you up on that, I am not here for a luxurious visit, I must atone for my... rudeness for the rest of the year before I am allowed to return to the Holy Kingdom." She explained looked depressed. He gave a knowing nod.

"Well if you ever decide to visit us again when your atonement is completed I'd love to go over some more strategies I have for killing evil demons." She nodded and the two 'bumped knuckles' as a sign of respect before parting way, Bardrig had his daily duties to return to.

"Where will you be headed to after you leave us?" Enri asked. Remedios thought for a second.

"There are some more frontier villages on the outskirts of the lands I'd like to visit, the small and more out of the way, the better, I'm sure I can offer some kind of help to those people." She told Enri nodding as she checked her sword and began the daily regimen that, she alone, had preform of maintaining her equipment, she missed having a squire.

"Well I'll leave you to it, your room is there, don't mind the upper floor, we had a disturbance and a hole got punched through it and we've had to repair it, but it should serve your needs. The paladin bowed with thanks and assured her it would be fine. After cleaning her treasured weapon she sheathed it and went to her room that had been provided to her. Once inside she removed her armor and set it on the table, ready to be polished and the dents pounded out of it. After leaving the washroom and rubbing herself down with a washcloth to remove the sweat and grime from her body she threw over a white undergarment that she wore when not armored.

"Where is the..." She mumbled to herself rummaging through her sack to find the polish and hammer she would need before setting to work of maintaining her armor. It was well into the night by the time she finished, she laid down and put out the candle thinking of her fight today.

"That sure was a nice shield though." She muttered to herself before going to sleep.

The morning came and the two members git ready early as they could. Lakyus kicked dirt onto the fire's embers, they were getting a move on early to Carne, she knew if she missed Remedios at Carne Fortress they'd have to go back to E-Rantel to meet the ninja twins. As Evileye never needed to sleep she stayed up all night to provide watch.

"Was it a quiet night?" Lakyus asked her lookout. Evileye nodded.

"A roaming Death Knight stopped to watch over our camp, it's odd though as this was the only one I've seen without a shield, but no matter all it did was watch." Lakyus wondered if the Death Knight sat the shield down somewhere and forgot about it.

"What about you? Did you sword "act up" last night?" Evileye said with a smile. Lakyus looked a bit flushed and a tad nervous.

"N...no um, with my uh, recent training, I've managed to hold it's awful aura at bay, fear not!" She reassured her friend who wondered silently how dangerous the aura of her sword really was. But without much hassle, they would reach Carne soon. The giant wood and metal fortress stood impressively against the backdrop of a rolling forest, many Goblins were already waving at them from guard posts stationed all around the fortress road. When the goblins learned who was in the cart they brought them before their general. The once, simple village girl, was now clad shoulder to toe in impressive-looking chain mail and boots made of adamantite, her white silk half cape flowed behind her in the wind.

"Lady Lakyus! It's an honor to have you visit us! Oh, and you as well Lady Evileye!" Enri said bowing to the members of The Blue Roses. Lakyus returned the bow and got right to business.

"I'm afraid business calls me here to your amazing fortress, but I've come looking for Remedios Custodio, I was told she was here," Lakyus said with a bow as well.

"Ah yes she made her way here a few days ago, she should be... oh there!" Enri said pointing out a silver armored woman carrying a recently repaired shield when she saw Lakyus a look of recognition crossed her face.

"Hello, Lady Custodio." Lakyus greeted the paladin with respect, Remedios just shook her head.

"It is I who should be greeting you with such titles Lady Lakyus, how have you been?" Remedios said warmly with a smile. Evileye remained silent.

"Well, fortunately, but as I'm sure you know, business is why I seek you out," Lakyus told her. Remedios looked confused. Lakyus explained the situation of them being down a "tank" and their mission.

"Seriously? They seriously defeated that new adamantite ranked team? How is..." She seemed at a loss for words. Lakyus frowned.

"As it seems with all three of the new teams that have sprung up, it was only their gear and weapons that made them so strong, as soon as they ran into someone with the same gear but better tactical knowhow, they were easily overcome by skill and strategy, although none of them were actually killed. The fake Blue Roses just took all their gold and items of power, Dead Gods Incarnate has since been disbanded.

"I see.." Remedios said, then noticing the small caster standing behind Lakyus.

"Oh hello sorry, I didn't see you there...Evileye?" She said bowing to the red-robed caster, Evileye just nodded back and turned to show she did not wish to speak, Remedios coked an eyebrow but returned to Lakyuses conversation.

"Well as it is you have officially asked me for help, I am obligated to oblige, although I am glad to be doing this as well, this is true work for one of my caliber!" Remedios exclaimed happily. As she already had all her things packed into a huge sack she was carrying on her back she was all ready to go. She bid her farewell and thanks to Enri and the goblins who had warmly welcomed her into their base. Before heading back to E-Rantel with Lakyus and a silent Evileye.

"So I see, that's why you were ordered here, alone," Lakyus said in a low voice surprised that Remedios wasn't at least given a small support force. But Remedios assured her as punishment this was normal. As the wagon, they borrowed made its way back to the city they just left.

"Lady Evileye, you haven't said a single word this whole time." Remedios said turning her attention to the silent one sitting alone on the other side of the wagon, she just waved her hand as to say "I'm alright". Remedios just shrugged and asked Lakyus her questions.

"Where are we going to look for them then? They probably have moved on." Remedios asked. Lakyus nodded.

"Tina and Tia have been looking and listening for rumors of their location, as they are easily recognizable and don't murder their victims that they rob, the twins should have a good idea where to begin our search when we meet up with them tomorrow in E-Rantel." She explained, Remedios seemed satisfied and leaned back stretching her back, she had hurt herself pretty bad in that duel that she was just now starting to feel.

"Oh, are you injured?"Remedios nodded a tad.

"Here..." Lakyus placed her hands on the lower back of Remedios and a warm light shone and her injury went away. Remedios smiled and nodded thanks and giving her back a good stretch now that she could. A shieldless Death Knight walked past them and Remedios's hand instinctively went to the hilt of her sword but she made no further actions. Lakyus looked at the paladin as she kept a wary eye on the passing Death Knight.

"I know you're a paladin and everything, but you seriously hate them don't you?" Lakyus asked gesturing to the passing Dark figure.

"When they reveal their true feelings and begin killing these people who trust them now, I at least will not feel foolish for having brought into the lie "He" is spreading," Remedios said with contempt in her voice, Lakyus frowned, it seemed her old comrade still only saw the world in black and white, it was her greatest weakness.

"Not all undead are evil you know..." Evileye said breaking her silence. But Remedios just shook her head,

"Yes they are, not a single one cares for the living, they have just learned to act this way to get humans to lower their guard." She growled. Lakyus could have sworn she heard Evileye hiss underneath her mask, she frowned, it seems this was going to be an issue at some point. She desperately tried to change the topic.

"So I was thinking of possible ways we could try and counter-ambush these imposters..." Lakyus said out loud. they both looked at her with curiosity.

"Well, they always ambush their targets the same way, so we can take advantage of that predictability, this shouldn't be too rough with the right plan, but we need Tina and Tia to tell us what they have heard about their movements first. " She said nodding to herself at the plan she had thought up.

"Okay, I'll bite, just what is this plan you have then?" Evileye said in a sulking voice. Lakyus smiled and told her teammates what to do when they met their counterparts. After the plan had been relayed they all agreed it would work but once again the Paladin spoke to the vampire and broke the peaceful atmosphere.

"Miss Evileye, I would like to ask you why you chose such a... dark sounding name," Remedios asked the short woman.

"And I would like to ask you to kindly mind your own business!" Evileye spat, she really did not like this woman. Remedios seemed surprised by the hostile tone and shot a glance at Lakyus, who just shook her head and made a motion to "just let it go". Remedios nodded and ignored Evileye for the rest of the trip which progresses the rest of the way to E-Rantel in awkward silence.


	4. Decent

Mare and Nissa made their way back and forths carving out tunnels and slopes that went downward, and after a bit they would turn into the wall and begin a new slope that would descend even father downward, as this was taxing on Mare's mana they would have to take a break as Nissa would lay her hands on him and pour her mana into her master, Mare wanted to tell her that she didn't actually need to touch him for the spell to work but he didn't mind, Nissa was always trying to make physical contact with him, she especially likes to lightly pinch his ears and telling him how cute he was.

"Okay Hejinmal, get in here." Aura commanded and using her personal pet summons made Hejinmal appear before her, this was an advantage she had after mind linking with a magical beast, as well as Hejinmal would now benefit from the various buffs being Aura's pet would afford, he was no longer in training and felt much stronger when in the presence of his mistress. However.

"W...what is that?" Aura asked, pointing to a book he was holding, as he was also caught in a very relaxed state. Once he realized he'd been caught he jumped to attention.

"Mistress Aura! I wasn't... what a surprise to be summoned!" He said choosing his words carefully, with a slight frown she just shrugged.

"It's fine... so long as you already did you tail whips as I told you to!" She said sternly and pointing at his face, he just smiled with a truthful smile and slammed his tail hard onto the ground and nodded.

"YUP! I've done 1,700 tail whips and um, after my break, I was gonna do the other 1,500!" He said showing how strong his tail had become, Aura just smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Good boy!" She said rewarding him with the praise he sought so badly, the smile on his face made him look more goofy than ferocious.

"But uh, mistress Aura, why did you summon me here in this giant cave?" He asked looking all around at the massive underground structure they were under. Then he saw the giant crack in the earth and had a look of understanding.

"Oh! You must need me to fly you across the gap right?" Hejinmal asked, but she didn't nod.

"No no, we are going down the giant gap, and I want you to help me provide air support for as the rest walk down the sloping path my brother is making." She ordered, he looked a bit nervous, as his old perch was on top of this mountain, he'd heard rumors of the kind of things that could be found down there, then he remembered a story he'd read once about this place.

"Well I'm sure it will be okay because I'm with you, but I've read a story about a powerful person of legend who was curious about the same gap you are, and even though he was the most powerful person to live on the surface, once he reached the bottom, he found that the beasts and creatures there more than a match for him and in his arrogance, was made a meal by a Slongtharn." Hejinmal told the party that was listening to what he said very intently.

"What? What is a "Slongtharn?" Shalltear asked before anyone else as she was antagonizing one of her two brides by painfully poking her all over her body, she was "ordered" to pretend to not like it. Hejinmal recounted the description he'd read in the book.

"It was rumored to be part of a giant even bigger creature, they say all Slongtharn are like snakes that poke out of the walls of the cavern, and although they are apparently found all over the place down there, or so the book said, they never come up because they are attached to the body of a monster so large... they are only like hairs to it, whereas to us they would be bigger than myself." He said with a hint of worry. Albedo chimed in.

"If that was true, this creature could very well be bigger than Garagtua..." This isn't welcoming news. It was then that Pe Riyuro spoke up.

"I told the vamp... I told Shalltear that the things down there could and probably will be "on your level" possibly even above it, so please don't be arrogant like the hero of that story and think just because nobody can beat you up here... that that remains to be true down there!" He said sternly but with true worry pointing down to the black abyss. Albedo nodded, she knew this team was very strong and had no weaknesses, overconfidence is the only thing that would beat them.

The one that should be talking the most, Pandora's Actor was silent in thought, Albedo decided to break that silence.

"What are you thinking about "fearless leader"? She asked in a joking tone, she seemed to be in a better mood than yesterday.

"Ah, well as I can change into many kinds of "classes" I was wondering which one I should go with, as I will have to pick gear relative to my forms "build"." He explained.

"And who are you contemplating on using?" She asked with a hint of worry.

"Ah well if we wanted overwhelming casting power I could go with Lord Ulbert Alain Odle, but if we needed a backup tank that could also do lots of damage I was considering going with Lord Touch-Me, then there is always the safer option of choosing a ranged form such as Lord Peroroncino..." But soon as he brought up that option Shalltear yelled out.

"Not that one!" Pandora's Actor nodded as if to say "the choice will be that much easier then".

"Why not just choose the strongest of them all and turn into Lord Ainz himself?" One of the elf slaves asked in a small voice. The German dressed man nodded but then shook his head.

"While father would be a great choice as his spells can bypass most defenses, if we are fighting monsters "above level 100" then his death spells will run a chance of being resisted, also my father has so much mana, because his spells demand it, I would be out of mana after only a few fights, which makes me wanna use Lord Touch-Me's form after all." He said nodding. They expected him to take the form of the Knight of Justice. But she spun and stretched out his arm and rose it to the heavens.

"HOWEVER!" He yelled giving an echo that repeated a few times and holding a very long pause.

"...At the mention of their size, I do think Lord Ulbert Alain Odle will be the best choice as melee could prove to be a problem after all if we don't know the true strength of these things, safety is best!" And with that, his form warped and molded to that of a man with the head of a goat and a strange top hat and mask, a menacing robe wrapped around his form and he bleated out a laugh. Albedo look displeased.

"Our Lord forbade you from using "The Supreme One's main gear" yet you are the spitting image of Lord Ulbert Alain Odle!" She rebuked him. He rose his hand to stop her.

"I would never...never!" He yelled giving a salute to the air.

"Disobey... father, this is Lord Ulbert Alain Odles "back up gear" that he would use to "farm" with, it's weaker than his usual equipment, but boast better mana regen, and a deep mana pool as well as do more damage to "none NPC types". The goat man chuckled while stroking his beard.

"In truth, he hardly ever wore it as he still wanted to be ready to fight other players, even while farming, so he largely ignored this set. I do not think anyone would call this his main gear." He said nodding at his own reasoning. And as his reasoning was sound Albedo submitted to it. Pe Riyuro just wondered what they were going on about as he took a few big drinks from his never-ending wine jug. Shalltear walked over and inspected the work Mare was doing, her blood-red armor gave Pe Riyuro horrible flashbacks but the more he drank the better it became.

"Mare is making good headway, but I don't want him going too deep without some way to get back..." Shalltear spoke to the group but Aura assured her.

"Don't worry I got my two favorite pets watching his back from the shadows." Hejinmal could be heard to make a small whining sound but stopped. They all looked at the former elf slave girl kali run back and forth across the suspension bridge, but as it was very long each lap back and forth took her quite a long time. She was laughing and enjoying the time out of Nazarick. Wins just sat quietly by herself thinking about what was going to happen.

"Master Mare, do you require more mana?" Nissa asked putting her hands on the concentrating elf boy's shoulders. He nodded and she once again replenished his waning reserves, they were so far down now but they had to keep going, sweat formed all along his brow but Nissa wiped it off, with her hand, he thought that was odd but kept concentrating. But as they pushed along they ran into another natural cavern that kept going down, he was told not to explore anything he did not make, so with that, he nodded to Nissa.

"Time to go back." He said. And the matching elves walked back to the top to join the group. He found them waiting for him and talking. Aura was the first to greet him.

"What's up? Done already?" She asked but he shook his head.

"Found a cavern going down, really big." He informed them, then nodded and took party formation. Aura riding on the back of Hejinmal would go ahead along with Fenrir and a, healed, Quadracile. Who was proud of the weaker dragon that stayed loyal even when their minds had been turned when Aura rebelled. Following up her would-be Albedo ready to leap in to intercept any trouble, behind her was Shalltear who would then attack anyone Albedo would engage, then Mare who was surrounded by all three elf slaves as he would be acting as support and healer, then Pandora's Actor who was in the form of Ulbert Alain Odle flanked by both of Shalltear's Vampire Brides brought up the rear of their battle formation. In order to give some cover to him the Quagoa Pe Riyuro stayed close behind using his nose, ears, and eyes to their fullest to avoid a back ambush attack or even from the walls they walked alongside, he had no intentions of fighting anything down here.

They walked in silence in this formation till they came upon the tunnel Mare pointed out to them and they entered it, it was a giant cavern, you could easily fit twenty Hejinmal in it, and it even expanded to become bigger as they went down, Pe Riyuro seemed especially wary of getting too close to the walls, his ears listening for the telltale sounds of digging and scratching but he heard none so they simply explored the cavern further.

"How long you think this goes on for?" Shalltear whispered to Albedo but she just received a curt "Shhh!" in response that made her scowl, but she knew they should keep it down so said nothing else but walked over to one of her brides and harshly slapped her across the face, one of the elf slaves that saw this was reminded of how their old master would do things like that and cried out in fear... The large corridor they followed eventually opened up into a huge underground arena type setting. There was strange moss growing all over the place which Mare noted was odd that moss could survive in this dry climate. He inspected it but decide it was harmless and to just explore this area for a possible exit. The naturally made room they explored was so large that Hejinmal could fly freely in it to give Aura a top-down view. She noted a path they could take that led to another opening that kept the downward trend they wanted, they continued as Hejinmal now had to walk again but still took the lead with Aura, but not too long after Pe Riyuro signaled that he heard something coming from the wall so they all stopped and waited at where he was pointing.

"Kreeeee!" A loud cry rang out as a giant eyeless flesh like a snake with many many rows of teeth burst from the expected place but was immediately met with Albedo's Black halberd and Shalltears lance to either side of its eyeless head, it was killed instantly. They looked to the other in a "good job" but were shocked to see the corpse of the monster get dragged into the hole it had tried to attack from. Pe Riyuro just pointed down the hole and said.

"Something bigger... but it probably won't mess with us till we get deeper when it can send more of those at us at once, but it knows we are here." He warned the group,

"Probably testing us out, seeing how strong we are..." Pandora's Actor said giving the walls a wide berth as they continued their trek into the unknown. they continued into the dark chasm until the elf slaves complained they needed to use the bathroom as well as eat and drink, Pe Riyuro too could use a rest, so they found an open area of the large cavern and set up camp. Aura decided she would also eat as it was technically an order that she and Mare do so. So when the four girls returned from the pash they had cleared they set up a meal for whoever felt like eating.

"Hejinmal are you going to eat?" Wins asked offering some food to the dragon but he shook his head.

"After I mind-linked with my mistress I received a lot of the benefits from her, and her need to not eat, drink or sleep is one, she is just choosing to eat." He explained for his mistress who was happily munching on something Pestonia called a "hot dog" even though it did not resemble her in the slightest.

All five elves ate these long meat sticks wrapped in bread and Pe Riyuro enjoyed his "liquid diner". Mare did need to physically rest to regain all his spent mana as did Nissa who cuddled up to him. Aura played a game she called "fetch" with Hejinmal as she would throw a large stick into the air and he would dart off and try and catch it before it hit the ground then return it to her, all the while wagging his giant tail. Shalltear ordered one of her brides to keep her company behind a giant rock that was quite some ways away from the rest of the group, Aura made a disgusted face when she saw them go off together.

Six hours went past as they rested and talked about how they would go about handling various situations that could arise, Shalltear returned with her bride who was covered in cuts and bruises that were already beginning to heal. Till at last Mare was full on mana and they were ready to go, so without making too much noise they fell back into the predetermined order and went forward. All the while under the watchful eyes of many metallic bug-like creatures that had eight blades attached to their arms that they did not know were there.

"I wonder what made these tunnels?" Wins whispered into the ear of Kali who shrugged, Nissa whispered back.

"Probably water, the only thing I could think of really..." then Mare added.

"Which means there will probably be a large amount of deposited water at the bottom of this tunnel we are following." they were expecting this so had brought plenty of [WATER BREATH] scrolls for the ones that needed it. Also, Mare and Nissa could cast this spell if they needed to refresh it under water.

"Wait..." Aura said silently and the group stopped moving. A hunched over figure caught her attention. She pointed at something laying up against the cavern wall, or rather, someone. An undead skeleton laid there. He hadn't noticed the party so Aura ordered Fenrir to check it out. The wolf walked right up to the undead skeleton and sniffed him but gave no immediate response, he didn't sense any traps or strange magic.

He wore a nicely made black cloak and had a mask wrapped around his face, he looked kind of like a Hanzo but the back of the hood ran all the way down past his waist. On his chest was sturdy looking leather armor that looked to be magically enchanted. His pants were black and had a series of red circles running down the pant leg that would lightly light up every now and again, finally, his boots looked to just be normal black boots that a thief or assassin might wear to reduce sound. Fenrir was right up against this resting undead but he still hadn't noticed so Aura decided to approach since her wolf would kill it instantly if it moved to attack.

"Um... hello?" Aura called out. The undead skeleton stirred awake and turned his head to the dark elf girl. But he did not do much other than that other than wave hello back in a friendly manner. Aura turned to look at her hidden group and shrugged.

"So uh, whatcha doin' down here all by yourself mister undead?" She asked getting closer but keeping her distance as well.

"Oh, well I fell from the gap sometime ago, walked around for a few years till i realized I was lost so I sat down here." He then returned to his waiting position.

"Uhh, so you're lost? Where are you doing down here other than you fell?"

"Well I heard rumors of some kind of sunken castle or crypt that might be down here, so I thought I'd look for it... then I fell and, well I told you that part already. Aura gave a "what the heck" look back to the rest of her baffled party.

"A castle? Do you know where it is? We are uh, treasure hunters looking for stuff like that."

"We?" He asked realizing she seemed to not be alone. The rest of the group decided this was a good time reveal themselves and all walked out, he gave no surprise.

"I see, you do have many people in your party, that's good... I came here alone... did not do well, as I've said," he explained Bordley.

"So this castle, do you know where we can find it?"

"Or crypt..." he corrected her

"Right this... castle or crypt, know where it is?" He nodded, they waited for a follow-up but none came. Aura cleared her throat.

"And where is it?" He just pointed down the path they were already headed.

"And that's it? Just down this path?" Aura asked a little skeptical, he nodded.

"Um... anything we should be on the lookout for? Anything dangerous?" She quarried further.

"Oh sure, lots of stuff, it's why I sat here, no point in going further, don't know how to go back, so i just sat here." He explained in a broad tone.

"Well uh, you look pretty well dressed for just a random undead..." Aura said in a quizzical tone.

"Thank you." Is all the undead replied. She sighed in frustration.

"WHY are you wearing such good gear, like, by even OUR standards, your stuff is really good!"

"Well, I decided to wear them because they are so good, as you just pointed out." He explained. Aura facepalmed and breathed in deeply, she could hear Shalltear laughing her ass off from someplace behind her.

"Okay... so WHERE did you get all this stuff your wearing?" She said picking her words correctly, he just pointed down the same corridor that he had a second ago but offered no more explanation. Aura thought for a second.

"Wait here." She said and turned to the group as he answered her rhetorical demand.

"It's what I was planning on doing..."

"What the hell is up with this guy, I'm pretty sure he's wearing Yggdrasil gear, but he isn't from Yggdrasil... least I don't think..." She turned and cupped her hands toward the undead.

"HEY! Are you from Yggdrasil?" She yelled back to him, he shook his head no.

"I don't know where this Yggdrasil is, sorry." Aura just looked at Pandora's Actor with a "what you wanna do?" look about her. He nodded.

"How strong does he seem?" The goatman asked Aura frowned then walked back to him.

"What is your name?" She asked slightly annoyed. He just shrugged.

"Never picked one." He told her. She didn't seem satisfied.

"Who made you then?" He just shrugged at her answer.

"Hey, can you hit my hand with yours, strong as you can, she held out her palm.

"Yes." but he did not move, Aura grit her teeth,

"Then, PLEASE punch my hand hard as you can okay?" He nodded then struck out at her hand very fast and hard, there was a small explosion of fire form his gloves, but as Aura was immune to fire she took no damage, also the actual strike didn't hurt much.

"Pretty weak, I think he's weaker than that "nail guy" Shalltear was talking about a couple of years ago." She called out to her team.

"Nail guy?" Shalltear blinked not remembering what she was on about.

"The human who you said, "clipped your nail for you". Remember? you said he was reeeeally weak" Aura reminded her friend. After a second it came to her.

"Oh yeah, the weirdo who wanted to die during that one time..." She said in a wistful tone.

"Yeah, from what you said he's probably around that level... other than what he might know, I don't see a reason to take him with us."

"And I think he's already told us everything we wanna know..." Albedo pointed out.

"Okay fine, we'll just leave him here since we will know where to find him if we need him, I guess," Shalltear answered. Aura walked back over to the resting undead skeleton.

"So uh... we're gonna go on ahead..." He just nodded.

"Okay." And placed his head back down.

"Uh but you said there was stuff ahead, do you know what it was like? Can you explain it to us?" Again he nodded.

"Sure, really dangerous." His head laid down again. Aura stamped her foot and walked back to the group.

"I'm done with this idiot!" She said jumping back up on her dragon who was trying his hardest not to laugh. They walked past him as he gave no attention to them whatsoever.

It wasn't long till they came upon one of these "dangerous things", a huge broken stone bridge. It was amazingly huge and beneath it was running water, a whole lake's worth of water blasted through this giant corridor, to fall in would be to get swept away immediately. The bridge was at least 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) and spanned the entirety of this loud torrent of water. Something had fallen from above, but as they could not see the ceiling because of how high it was they did not see where it fell from. Talking would require yelling at the top of your voice to combat how loud the water was as it rushed underneath the massic stone bridge. They walked till they came to where there was a large missing section of the bridge, even Hejinmal would not be able to jump across this large hole.

Everyone exchanged looks to see if anyone had a reservation about flying over but Pandora's actor looked not too sure and pointed at the thin strings that covered the entire area, when they looked harder they saw it, a huge web, this was a trap for anyone attempting to jump or fly over the gap.

"Okay Hejinmal, you're up," Aura commanded, the dragon looked at her dubiously.

"And, what am I up to do?" he asked worriedly. She smiled and pointed at the web.

"Go get yourself caught so we can kill whatever comes to eat you!"

"Mistress Aura! please don't use me as bait!" He pleaded, but her finger did not leave where she had it pointed. He sighed and put his head down.

"Well here i come, a big fat tasty dragon, sure hope I don't get caught by anything!" He said in a voice that was sure to echo all over this giant cavern, then he hit the webs and as expected was tangled like a common insect.

"Oh no! I've been caught! I sure hope I can escape before some monster comes to eat me!" Hejinmal said in a bored voice that did not match his current situation. And almost as on command, a huge spider creature ran up from underneath the bridge. It was bright blue with white streaks going down its furry body, it ran over and bite Hejinmal on his arm.

"Ow! You bitch!" Hejinmal cursed and grabbed the spider's face with his claw and crushed it. it fell over dead, Hejinmal leaped out easily shaking off the webs.

"Good going Hejinmal! I knew with my movement restriction immunity and poison immunity you'd be fine!" She said patting his leg.

"Yeah, that bit was also infused with cold damage, so I really was fine no matter what." he flexed a little and let all the elves crawl upon his back. He made an ide bridge with his frost breath and they all crossed in peace.


	5. Objects in the air

The adventurer's guildhall in E-Rantel was busy, new and veteran adventurers alike sat around talking about their various jobs, the new "adventures initiative" really was taking shape. As the best way to receive a payout was to simply map out unexplored areas all the surrounding lands that humans typically steered away from now were becoming recorded, every so often even a new place of interest would be found with would require more adventures to explore that particular spot.

"Wow, this place is really busy!" Remedios remarked looking at all the faces. Lakyus nodded and wove to the girl manning the desk with who she was familiar with.

"With the never-ending jobs of going out and exploring all the area we have shunned for so long, it's really no surprise." Evileye was looking at a group of silver adventures, they were all heavily geared out with enchanted armor and weapons that they were borrowing from The Sorcerer Kingdom as part of the lending program. Even as these weapons and armor were very expensive, they would pay 10% off with the money they earned from adventuring to pay it off, something they could afford to do now with the safety of their powerful gear.

"Seems this new equipment lending program is a hit? I've never seen so many silver and bronze tags in such good equipment... and spirits." Evileye took note. Typically a silver or copper plate adventure would have, maybe, a decent weapon, but their armor and overall gear would always be poor, now even low ranked adventures could afford to get "geared out" before their first mission. The success rate of low-level missions skyrocketed as well, low ranked deaths were becoming more and rarer as well.

An adventure took notice of the celebrities that were walking past and bowed with a smile, Lakyus stopped to wave before making their way to the desk. The girl knew who they were immediate.

"OH! The Blue Roses! What a surprise!" She greeted warmly, Lakyus nodded and asked if Ainzach was in, the girl nodded and went to retrieve her boss. Before long a man with grey hair and mustache came out to greet the women.

"Ah! Lady Lakyus and Lady Evileye and..." He was taken aback as he did not know the woman who was traveling with the other two.

"Remedios Custodio," She said introducing herself. Ainaches eyes searched for an adventure tag but was shocked to not see one, but then noticed her armor.

"Ah! you must be that strong paladin I've heard so much about from The Holy Kingdom then!" He said recognizing the name now as well. She nodded and shook his hand, he then escorted the trio to a room where they could talk in private, at their arrival was starting to travel to the various fans of The Blue Roses.

"So what can I do for you beautiful ladies today?" He asked clapping his hands once. Lakyus was the first to speak up.

"First we wanted to thank you for all the hard work that the adventure guild has done in keeping our names clean." The look on Ainzches face soured like he just bit into a lemon.

"Yes, those imposters are trouble aren't they." He said looking at Lakyus and smiling.

"Indeed. And to that end, we have officially decided to take them out, as it seems they are growing past the level of a normal brigade. He nodded expecting this outcome.

"We were, of course, hoping you had some idea where they could be currently found? We are aware of what happened to Dead Gods Incarnate... so anything after that would be useful. Ainzachespoke up.

"It seems they never stray too far from the Slane Theocracy territories, but as for any news, I'm afraid I don't know where they are currently.

"Well, we are expecting Tia and Tina will, hopefully, have a lead when they meet us here later today," Evileye explained. He smiled in acknowledgment.

"Then when they arrive, where should I send them," Ainzache asked looking to the two adventure women. Lakyus told him the name of the hotel they were at and they bid farewell. The three walked to the hotel and checked into their room, but Evileye asked to be excused from the rest of the group and left to wander E-Rantel alone, she could not stand being around that woman for too long. She saw princess Renner's carriage trotting out of the city, the meeting she was here for must be over Evileye thought, as it looked to her that Renner was heading back to the Re=Estize kingdom.

As she wandered the streets she saw a woman walk past here wearing a black cloak that had a hood, Evileye knew that this cloak was magical and the way she walked meant this person was a trained fighter to boot. Evileye tried to make out her face but the woman seemed to be trying to hide who she was, this further aroused suspicion in Evileye who decided to follow this person, out of boredom more than anything, but the figure realized this almost immediately and turned to face Evileye.

"Why are you following me?" The woman asked then coughed slightly once or twice. Evileye really had no reason so she shook her head.

"You looked suspicious ... and I'm bored so I followed you." She said a little embarrassed. The woman coughed again, she must not be feeling well.

"Well if it's all the same to you, I'd like to be left alone." She said narrowing her purple eyes onto the small frame of Evileye before turning around hastily and continuing her walk before vanishing in front of her eyes using an [INVISIBILITY] spell. Evileye figured this lady was bad news, but ultimately not part of her mission so she let it go and continued wandering the streets out of boredom. She passed some skeletons that were doing road work, this was a very common sight in E-Rantel. Suddenly a voice calling out caught her attention.

"Die! Evil Demon! You will fall to the blade of the mighty MOMON!" At the mention of that name, she spun to see the figure of her hero, however.

"HA! HA! HA! You cannot beat me with your puny skills!" Some children were in an alleyway, there was a boy with a black bucket over his head where he made eye holes, and a red towel hung comically from his shoulder. Next to him was a girl with a brown coat wrapped around her and she had her blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. They were "fighting" some children who had all cheaply made masks on.

"I am the demon Jaldabaoth! and these are my minions! we will rule all of E-Rantel!" One of the children in a mask yelled.

"Nabe DO IT!" The boy pretending to be Momon ordered, the girl stretched out her hands and pointed them at the ones with masks.

"MAGIC!" She cried out, nothing happened but the kids pretending to be the demons cried out in exaggerated pain and looked as though they were taking damage. But the one pretending to be Jaldabaoth rose his hands in the air.

"Magic shield! Now your magic cannot hurt us! HA! HA! HA!" "Jaldabaoth" pointed at the duo.

"If you want to beat me, fight me like a man!" The child challenged his rival. "Monon" pulled out two black rods that he swung around in "skill". And the two kids met in battle. They made loud sound effects with their mouths and pretended to go back and forth until "Jaldabaoth" struck down "Monon", the kid's bucket helmet came flying off and he took a knee. Panting very loudly. For only a briefest of seconds, Evileye caught herself about to cry out...

"You can do it Sir Monon!" But she caught herself and managed not to make herself look foolish.

"You see that I am stronger now!" The child with the mask said putting his arms up in a grand display, his "minions" laughed maniacally, the girl pretending to be Nabe cried out for her partner to get up!

"I will... never. LOSE!" The Monon child said springing up to his feet and "running through" the child with his "sword" who was mocking him.

"GRRAAHHHH!" The masked child yelled out grabbing the pole and held it to his stomach to give the illusion it was sticking out of him, he walked around in exaggerated pain before stopping and laying down on his back, defeated. A mighty cheer went up from the spectators who had stopped to watch the children play, even Evileye gave a little nod to the child who had won at the last second. She smiled and continued her walk.

When she felt that she wasted enough time, she made her way back to the hotel. Upon entering the room Tia was there. And they were talking, they stopped and motioned for Evileye to join them, Evileye looked around.

"No Tina?" She asked they shook their heads.

"We were actually able to locate our imposters, Tina is following them from a distance and will guide us to wherever they are, as of now they seem to be headed back into The Slane Theocracy, somewhere deep in one of its forests, probably their hideout. Lakyus smiled, location their hideout was the best case scenario, she had tried to bait them out on the road but this was much better.

"So, we just make our way to that forest and meet up with Tina, then she will guide us to wherever they went," Tia explained. Evileye saw everyone was ready to go.

"When are we leaving?" She asked. Remedios answered her.

"We are planning on leaving now, we were waiting for you." Evileye glared at her from under the mask but said nothing just turned and exited the door she just entered from. The four women made their way to a travel carriage and paid to be brought to the border of the Slane Theocracy. After loading up their luggage and making some final checks to their gear they got in and readied for their journey.

After a few hours they heard the cry of a falcon, Tia jumped outside and came back with a small piece of paper she took from the falcon's leg.

"Tina says they have gone deeper into the forest but have stopped at some kind of well-made building." She relayed the information gathered from her sister. They all shared a glance, this was their hideout. But Tia kept talking.

"She also noted the Adamantite team 'Light of the Lost' were following them and headed to the same place... seems they are gonna get to fight them before we can." The ninja girl finished, this news was not welcoming, as this "Light of the Lost" was another of the new teams that had sprung up in The Theocracy in the past months, they could order the Blue Roses to leave as this was technically on their territory.

"So our fakes are beaten, we just head back?" Evileye asked. But Lakyus didn't seem so sure.

"Our fakes beat a new adamantite team before, they could do it again, and gain more power from the items they take." She frowned.

"What if the two teams are working together?" Remedios asked. Everyone looked at her, nobody considered that.

"It's highly unlikely..." Lakyus said thinking.

"But these fakes of yours, they sprung up around the same time and place as all the other new adamantite teams, right? Just seems odd is all." Remedios finished. She was right all within the last 7 or 9 months the balance of power began to tip in The Slane Theocracies side.

"Well if that's the case we don't have a chance to beat them, not only will we be outnumbered but probably out armed as well, they might have very strong gear that rivals ours," Lakyus said worriedly at this new situation.

"Any way our spy will inform us of either development, so we won't be going in blind at least," Evileye added on. This brought some reassurance back to the carriage. As night descended they traveled to the border throughout the night and by the time the morning sun was cresting they had made it to the border of The Slane Theocracy. As they met up, returning from performing biological duties they discussed what to do next. About that time a familiar falcon perched on Tia's arm, she took a note read it, but her face was not a happy one.

"It seems the two teams are friendly with one another, but not working with each other,at least it would seem... they did not fight outside of the "hideout" but instead acted as if they did not even notice one another, which is weird because the two teams passed by each other on many occasions, Our fakes are still there but Light of the Lost should be headed our way now." She finished the report.

"Oh, she warns they seem to be carrying new and powerful gear that they did not have when they entered the building." She said catching the tail end of the message. They looked at one another in worry.

"Are we going to question them? Or just attack them outright, like an ambush?" Remedios asked. This was a good question, as the other team was a real adventure team, it would behoove them to give Light of the Lost the benefit of the doubt, or at least a chance to explain themselves. However, if they were the enemy, they would attack upon learning The Blue Roses know the location of their stash house and hideout. Furthermore, they did not know how strong Light of the Lost was, just that their weapons and armor were on a whole nother level than anything people have seen before. Lakyus frowned, this was not a good position to be in, also they were down a member as Tina was keeping tabs on their main target.

"We should just ignore them, let them pass us then we head to the hideout... if they call for backup, we are in trouble, but it seems like that might not happen... if we are lucky." It was Evileye who said the plan.

"Then we learn what we can from our fakes about Light of the Lost before deciding on what to do with them." She finished up. They all nodded, it was the safest option so they decided to head in a way to the forest that would not bring them into contact with the existing adamantite team. With the ninja leading the team they met up with Tina after too long and were perched outside of a strange well-made building that seemed very out of place with a forest setting.

"What the heck is this place?" Remedios whispered they just shook their heads, the artwork and overall design of the building looked foreign to anything any of them had ever seen.

"So we wait till they come out right? Then get em?" Remedios asked to Lakyus who nodded.

"Evileye will begin with ranged attacks and a sandstorm to confuse them, we will rush in during this moment of confusion and attack at will, but we have to wait till we see all of them, and they can't be too close to their base, we don't want them falling back and making this into a siege," Lakyus explained, they nodded and got into positions. But nobody exited the base for hours.

"Are they sleeping in there or celebrating? Why do they not have any guards posted?" Remedios asked as she became nervous about the absence of the enemy team. They looked at the ninja twins to see if they could hear anything but they shook their heads, dead silent.

"We could storm in there and try to take them by surprise?" Remedios added on, she didn't like all this waiting around. Lakyus looked like she was considering doing that as well.

"If they are sleeping or celebrating... we could do a lot with that... Tina and Tia, get closer and see what you can find out." She ordered and the two girls suddenly vanished and reappeared on either side of the entrance, Tia checked out the door and looked to her sister with a "not locked or trapped" look. Her sister seemed surprised by this. Tia slowly pushed open the door and looked inside, she seemed very confused and motioned to return to the team.

"Something is strange, boss... there are no lights in there, and it looks like an old store of some kind. Also, I didn't see anyone, they must have a back exit or something..." The Ninja informed them. this was also a kind of good news, if they could raid the storehouse of these thieves while they were gone, there's no telling what they would find and find out. Lakyus understood this and nodded to her team as she tightened her grip on her curse blade.

"Okay, we will enter the base and explore it, someone should remain here as a lookout. Tia, will you mind waiting here?" Lakyus asked she nodded, Her stealth would be hard to detect if she did not move. The four remaining women approached the door and after some checks pushed it open. As soon as they stepped in, lights sprang up all over and a man in a black and white suit appeared before them.

"HELLO AND WELCOME To..." He began but then looked at Evileye. A large frown appeared across his face and he pointed to the team.

"I'm sorry! But that one is too high in level to be here, and all our wares are only for new players, so... off with you!" A large black [GATE] portal appeared behind the group and some unseen force sent them flying into it. The scenery suddenly changed for the woman as the three remaining members of The Blue Roses and Remedios sat up, they were no longer in a store in some forest, they were in the middle of an opened field, in a part of the world neither of them had been before.

"What was all that about?" Evileye said looking around panicking, Lakyus and the ninja were also freaking out but after a second they all calmed down.

"I think we fell for a trap and were teleported out of that place!" Remedios said looking around. They were next to a beautiful lake and above that lake was a...

"Hey... what's that?" Remedios asked the team they saw what she was pointing at. Above the lake and in the air was a giant structure that floated silently by itself.

"Is that a floating castle?" Evileye asked in surprise. She suddenly received a shudder as those words sunk in. The rest of the team just nodded slowly.

"So then... what's our next move boss?" Tina asked pulling up her mask over her face. Remedios put her hand on her sword as Lakyus looked up to the castle in the sky. Evileye just stood looking at the castle in silence.


	6. Puzzle

The Nazarick group marched down the tunnel that the strange skeleton had pointed them down, but as it never diverged into any other tunnels they had an easy time navigating. Aura was on the lookout and flew ahead of the group to spot trouble.

"You see anything ahead Hejinmal?" Aura asked squinting into the darkness. He shook his head but looked around, the tunnel had become so large that he could fly freely and without any hassle.

"No, but I hear something way ahead of us... a lot of something." He warned. He glided in silence till they took a large turn as the tunnel shifted to a different direction. Suddenly it opened up into a massive underground area that was so large Aura thought she had exited the ground and they were outside, but the top of this area was so high it could not be seen and looked like a starless night sky. When she ran her eyes all along with the huge cave structure she noticed a pale green glow toward to another side of this sprawling underground structure. Aura flew back to the entrance and waited for her group to catch up.

"What in the..." Pandora's actors exclaimed looking at the huge opening that was underground.

"Is this the "dangerous place" we were warned about?" Albedo asked looking out over the sprawling landscape of earth and rock and water.

"Probably, look there!" Shalltear said noticing the floor to this structure was one giant lake.

"Such a large underground lake... this is incredible!" Mare examined as his slaves "oohed" and "ahhed" at the scene that lay before them.

"Well, crossing this will be dangerous... I can imagine what's in there." Albedo mentioned looking at the huge lake.

"And what do you think that is?" Aura asked pointing out a faded green glow from the other side of the lake.

"Maybe that castle or crypt that skeleton spoke of." Pandora's Actor guessed.

"Alright well, how do was cross? [FLY] probably would be the best choice I think." Albedo said looking into her personal space and producing a [FLY] amulet. Pe Riyuro shook his head, Quagoa did not fly, they dig, so he decided to wait here until they crossed the lake so they could [GATE] him over with the amulet the elf slave wore.

"I also can't swim... so just do this favor for me?" He asked Mare who nodded that he would. Pandora's actor spoke up again.

"Yes it will be safer and if something does come from that water we will be in a good potion to fight it." He stated silently. So Albedo, Pandora's Actor. and Mare all activated their [FLY] amulets and floated off the ground, Aura helped her elf slaves onto the back of her dragon and they all sat in a line on his back. Aura took off with the elf slaves on the back of Hejinmal while the rest silently floated, Shalltear sent her vampire bride to hover in front of the group, as bait. But they were ignored so soon after the rest began the flyover this giant lake. A very large white object could be seen swimming below them they all shot looks of worry but it paid them no mind.

A scream cut the air and they all looked to the front where it had come from. Large black tentacles were coming from... the ceiling! They were so focused on what might be below they ignored the ceiling. They wrapped around the two vampire brides and threw them hard into the water, a large white fish jumped up and swallowed both of them whole in one gulp before crashing back into the water.

"Above us!" Albedo cried but the black tentacles had already wrapped themselves around Shalltear and she was flung into the water along with her brides. Shortly after that splashes of Pandora's Actor and Mare followed, everyone that was not on Hejinmal's back was now surfacing in the black water. Hejinmal avoided the grabbing arms by flying low to the water he let loose a breath blast the froze a large section of the water allowing people to fly then stand upon it.

"Damn those things are keeping us from flying." Shalltear spat as she climbed out of the water.

"Shouldn't you be immune to attacks that move you Albedo?" Shalltear asked and Albedo nodded grimly.

"Yes, but i was not able to resist their attacks... meaning..."

"Meaning they are high enough level to overcome your defenses?" Shalltear asked worriedly.

"Or they can at least bypass it somehow." She started looking up at the wriggling hairs, they were now stretching down like many curtains halfway down this massive cave.

"Shalltear, how are your brides?" The vampire shook her head.

"The bite they took was too much damage, they are both gone." She said without any emotion in her voice. Wins began to cry on the back of the dragon. Mare looked mad. without a word he walked to edge of the ice shelf they stood on and focused his magic, they could all tell he was about to use a "super tier" spell, one that would drain his experience points in order to cast. Suddenly his arms were covered in two gloves, one was black and red and let off an evil glow and the other was white and blue, and seemed pure. A huge casting ord surrounded the elf as they all sat in silence to see what he was going to do, after a few seconds the cast time was finished and the gloves glowed as they supplied the "experience" needed to cast this super tier spell. [CREATION] was cast.

"Forrest!" The young boy in a dress called out. At first there was nothing but slowly a rumbling from below began suddenly the giant fish was brought out of the water, as thick dense treetops appeared all around them, the trees kept raising feeding on the water and magic until there was a huge lush, if not damp, forest where the lake had once been. Everyone was amazed to see this whale-sized fish flopping like an ordinary caught fish on top of the trees Mare summoned.

"I got this." Pandora's Actor said as he shot a lightning spell at the fish it sizzled and then died, the black inky tentacles tried to grab the treetops but it was useless, the group now walked to the other end of this once lake surrounded by many Trees. Any large animals that once called this land home were pushed to the top of the thick lush forest just like the fish had been so the walk was peaceful and uninterrupted. They walked for about an hour or so until.

"Wait, look there!" Albedo said pointing to something beyond the trees, it was a structure of some kind, one that had been underwater not long ago. As the group got closer they saw that it was indeed an entrance to some ruins. The immediate room that it housed looked like it once was a treasury, there was gold lying all over but most of it was so grime-covered it was just mounds of black. They saw row and rows of opened treasure chests and boxes, on the walls were empty display cases for weapons and armor, it reminded Pandora's Actor of a very tiny treasure vault, one that had already been looted, years ago.

"Nothing is left is here?" Kali said looking around and peering into the chests. Shalltear walked around looking to see if there were any clues as to what this place was. It wasn't long till they saw something that they all recognized, writing.

"This is Yggdrasil writing... it's eroded but it's some kind of treasury from a long-dead king." Albedo said reading what she could on the wall. Then she said something that made them all stare at her with awe.

"Touch me." She said in an odd voice, everyone couldn't believe their ears, why was one of the supreme one's name written on this old ruin? Albedo caught onto their confusion.

"No no no, it's instructions, this wall is saying to "touch it" She explained. And reached out to do so.

"Um, it might be a trap..." Mare said meekly, Albedo's hand froze and she withdrew it. They all thought silently.

"Aura make one of your slaves touch it." Shalltear commanded, there was a trio of screams but Mare glared at Shalltear shaking his head "no".

"I was told not to kill them by Lord Ainz, I won't put them in danger like that." Mare said sternly, Aura followed that up with a "YEAH." Shalltear looked displeased but said nothing else.

"This very well could be the kind of stuff we were sent down here to find though." Albedo said reading the wall again and again.

"Then you should touch it." A voice said from behind them. They turned to see the skeleton from earlier walking into the room they were in. with Pe Riyuro following him.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" Aura asked in disbelief. She nodded to Pe Riyuro.

"The way became safe, so I continued looking for the castle or crypt I had heard about." The man answered.

"Hey... uh wanna give that wall there a touch?" Shalltear asked the man, he nodded and walked over to where Albedo was, they all left the ruins but kept an eye on him from down the hallway, as soon as he touched the wall he vanished in a blue light, teleported.

"Huh... well at least we know what it does..." Albedo said.

"Well sure, but where will it take us if we touch it?" Aura demanded to know. They all stood around the wall wondering if they should follow the strange undead. Finally, Aura walked up and slapped the wall before anybody could protest, and she vanished in the same blue light.

"MISTRESS AURA!" Hejinmal cried he ran at the wall and placed his hand against the wall, but nothing happened, he panicked and pushed on it again and again but he was not transported. They looked at the wall and saw the letters rearranging on the wall to change their meaning.

"Got them." Albedo said... then did a double-take.

"Got them? Who has them?" She screamed in anger, once again the wall changed its letters.

"I do! And now she is mine!" The wall read. A flare of anger overtook Albedo as she attacked the wall, but it withstood her attack.

"That won't work." The words said. Albedo backed up and let out a sigh of frustration.

"What do you want so we can have the girl back?" Pandora's Actor calmly asked the wall, the words moved again.

"I've been alone for so long... all I want is someone to play with it... and now I have that!" The wall said, just as Albedo read it out loud the whole ruins began to shake and crumble. A magic effect was trying to bury the ruin, they ran out making it in time just as Mare burst into tears.

"We've lost Aura... " Shalltear said in a tone like she didn't believe what just happened. Albedo summoned a pad from her personal space and looked up the status of Aura.

"She's alive and not under any kind of status effect... so we know that at least," Albedo assured the group, Pandora's Actor just tapped his foot annoyed and tried to [MESSAGE] Aura, but she was too far away to receive it.

"I don't think this... wall means out girl harm.. but we have to assume the worst as well." He said which caused the four evils to burst back into tears holding one another until Albedo turned an yelled.

"STOP! Crying won't help! Mare, you need to show more composure than this" She barked at him, at the rebuke he perked up, tears still forming but a look of determination, Albedo had brought the lads courage out.

"Sis and me can always tell where the other is... but she's very far. And I can't tell exactly where just a general direction, but you're right I think she is okay for now." He said. They looked around and decided to simply keep traveling the way they were and hopefully they would find Aura.

"Seems like we've been walking forever!" Shalltear whined as they kept their brisk pace through the forest. Suddenly Hejinmal looked around and realized something Fenrir and Quadracile were beside him.

"Mistress Aura has not summoned her other pets, no amount of distance should stop her from doing that." He said worriedly. Nobody said a word to this, they just kept walking in silence and worry.

"That stupid girl!" Albedo sneered. But she realized that she would have touched it instead if she had not been alerted to a possible trap. Mare frowned at Albedo who smiled at him.

"I'm just worried for her Mare." She explained, he nodded but still looked determined as he pulled his brown hood up over his head.

In an instant her whole world changed, she was no longer in a damp and smelly treasury, the sudden presence of light made her eyes hurt slightly.

Aura blinked at the walls of blue and white that surrounded her. She looked around for anyone but was seemingly alone.

"Hello?" She called out worried.

"Hello." A voice answered from behind her, she turned fast and saw that annoying skeleton looking at her, they were roughly the same size height.

"You! Why... never mind. Do you know what's going on?" She asked he shook his head.

"I had been in that room before, never touched the wall, seemed like a bad idea." He looked around.

"I do not know where this is." He said honestly. Aura sighed, of all the people she had to get stuck with. The room they were in was a large cube, the walls would slowly turn color from blue to white, even the floor would adopt this odd color change. Aura tried to summon Fenrir but her soul link was blocked, this was an anti-magic room.

"I can't use any of my magic in here." Aura confessed. Her companion just shrugged.

"I don't know any magic." He professed. Aura ran to a wall and placed her hand on it, it was cold.

"Welcome to my game!" A loud voice called out that made Aura jump with fear.

"I hope you will be fun to play with, this undead is boring, !" A booming genderless voice said. Aura looked around.

"Oh yeah? And what kind of game is this?" There was a chuckle as the room slowly began to fill up with a strange liquid.

"Figure a way out of this room or die!" The voice commanded.

"Eh? What stupid game is this?" Aura demanded.

"Good luck Aura!" the voice said and didn't respond to any more questions.

"It means to kill you if you can't solve the problem of this room." The skeleton answered Aura's question in a plain tone, she glared at him but then at the purple liquid that was already at her heels. Her shoes looked weird under this liquid...

"Damnit...Mare is the one who's good at puzzles!" Aura whined.

"But he is not here." The undead said in the same boring tone, Aura ignored him thinking about how to get out of this room using no magic. She pulled out her whip then attacked one of the walls as hard as she could, while this very likely was not the answer to the room's puzzle, she had to try "hitting everything" first. The undead just watched in silence as Aura went to wall to wall looking for any weak points, sadly none revealed themselves. the purple liquid then made its way up to her calves, but there was something else... it was destroying her gear! Her feet were bare and her pant legs up to where the purple had touched her was gone, she was wearing shorts now and they were getting shorter by the moment. The undead's gear was also getting destroyed. She leaped onto his shoulders as he stood there motionless to get out of the purple liquid. Her shoes that Lady Bukubukuchagama had given her were gone and her pants ruined, this was terrible! She almost began to cry but would not give up, she assumed that once the protection she had from her armor was gone this stuff would dissolve her like it had done her magical gear.

"Please hurry, my pants that I found are getting ruined." He complained in the same emotionless voice as always.

"Ok oK ok." clues... clues... she looked around but nothing seemed different other than there was more liquid.

"Wait!" This liquid it is destroying magical equipment... then maybe." She thought about how the walls had been magically protected from any damage.

"Hey You, can you attack the floor?" Ashe asked.

"Yes." He said but made no movement, she didn't have time to get annoyed so just yelled.

"DO IT!" And the undead punched at the floor, as a crack formed she screamed in joy.

"AGAIN! Hit it again!" He obeyed and there was a burst of power and the floor gave way beneath them. they were falling but it seemed the purple liquid had all but vanished. The voice returned.

"Good, good! Now game two, I hope you can fly!" The voice teased. She looked down and the ground was quickly approaching her. She activated her amulet and began to float, the undead kept falling, Aura frowned and dove to catch him. She grabbed the falling undead but he offered no thanks.

"Well, at least this puzzle will be easy." She said lowering to the ground. But the man shook his head.

"I do not think flight is the answer to this puzzle, just a necessity." He said pointing to the ground of the room they were slowly floating down to. They were now locked into a giant rectangle room that allowed them to descend. On the bottom of this rectangle were many mouths! they were biting and gnashing at the air waiting for their meal to drop into their open mouths. Aura looked up and to her dismay, the biting and hungry mouths were coming out of the ceiling too, and the two ends were closing in on them as the ends of the rectangle were moving to each other making the room lowly into a square.

"Ugh, this never stops eh?" She said to herself

"No." The undead answered. Aura looked at the sides of the wall that were not covered in teeth. She flew up to the side and touched it. It was warm. She wondered if this was a clue, but the top and bottom floors were coming at them fast, she had no idea what to do next. She thought for a second then pulled out her bow, she turned around and launched a huge volley of arrows at the mouths that were descending, her attack worked destroying the open maws, with a smirk she turned and let loose another barrage of attacks destroying those mouths as well.

"No! No! No! that's cheating!" The voice yelled as they fell through the open slots. the air around her began to freeze, just breathing hurt, she couldn't make out anything and she began to shake uncontrollably.

"You never stated rules." The skeleton said to the voice. There was no answer but the life was flushed back into Aura.

"You... you just weren't supposed to be able to kill those things! " The voice sounded annoyed now. Aura coughed and gasped for air as she stood up in a world with no floor.

"So? Just because you thought I couldn't do something doesn't make me a cheater, take that back!" Aura demanded shaking her fist, but the room changed.

"I will release you if you trade places with your brother..." Aura was shocked, Mare would have a better chance at solving the puzzles, but he would die if he failed how coul...

"Okay." The undead skeleton said the room shook violently.

"N...NO! I was talking to her! Not you!" But the whole room changed and suddenly Aura was kneeling next to Mare and the rest of the team, they were just as shocked to see her as she was, they. She was surrounded by trees and was suddenly tackled by four crying elves, she would actually lose a little "HP" from how hard Mare hugged her, but she did not mind. Aura turned to look at the undead who had saved her.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I assume that person has my brother now." The skeleton said and got up and began walking away from the group but in the direction, they were headed. Aura told them what had happened and they all agreed that this nameless undead had earned a place in their group after all.

"So we should just continue on to that weird green light eh?" Aura asked Pandora's actor, but before he could say anything they heard a loud thumping sound, and it was growing louder. They could hear the cracking and breaking of large trees, whatever was coming at them was big!

"Get up into the air!" Mare called out to everyone as a huge white dragon burst from the trees, no it wasn't a dragon, just a very large lizard. Shalltear stabbed at its arm but her lance bounced off harmlessly.

"It's got blunt damage immunity!" He informed the group, it swung its head at her but she jumped back, only to leap into he passed of its tail, she let out a shriek of pain as she was shot into a large tree, a crack marked her point of impact against the wood surface. It suddenly turned and blasted Hejinmal with its saliva, it must have considered him the biggest threat. But Hejinmal used his wing to deflect the stream of gooey liquid.

"Got it!" Albedo yelled as she leaped up into the air, she brought down her ax across its skull cleaving a chunk out of its face, blue blood exploded but it did not react to the pain at all. It just turned to bite the thing that hit it. Yet even though this thing was 100 times the size of Albedo it could not move this tiny thing from where it stood with all of its might. It kept yanking at her harder and harder but Albedo stood firm not moving a single inch.

A volley of arrows peppered its face and eye as its head jerked back and forth, Kali was shooting a never-ending stream of poison arrows at its face and they were hurting it. Wins just cried out in fear kept hiding behind Hejinmal's giant wing. There then came a crashing sound as a bolt of lightning blasted the side of the lizard from the fingertips of Pandora's Actor. It groaned and fell over dead.

"NO! I wanted to capture that thing! Aura cried out sadly. Pandora's Actor looked shamed.

"Oh I'm sorry Aura, i will keep that in mind with the next one we face." He said, she just looked annoyed but said nothing more. They all took to the air to make the travel time a little less as they still had a large section of forest to cover.


	7. Agents of Nazarick

"Just how far did that guy send us?" Remedios said looking at the floating castle. Evileye sighed.

"If that's what I think it is... then we got sent very far away from home," Evileye said with depression. Tina walked up to the edge of the lake. And frowned

"I have a bad feeling about leaving Tia all alone now, she won't know what happened to us..." Tina said summoning her falcon through ninjutsu and attacking a letter of distress. But the hawk just spun around and vanished, it had no idea where to go, or it's flight time was too far and would never make the trip.

"Boss, what're your orders?" We didn't bring any food or water, we don't have the supplies to simply walk back. Lakyus was thinking but as she stared up at the castle she could see two shining objects come out of the castle and begin heading their way. Everyone noticed this before she could point it out.

"Should we run?" Remedios Asked getting into a forward position.

"Look how fast they moving, they would catch us, best just play this smart and hope they wanna talk first." Lakyus orders, so all the women put their weapons, to their side and waited. Before long they made out the forms of two large dragons, one the color of silver and the other the color of gold.

"Dragons huh? Well... we're probably dead." Evileye remarked, she had a fall back move, but it would kill her friends so she didn't think about using it. The dragons descended and landed on the water a good ways away from the group.

"Um... hello?" The silver dragon called out. The golden dragon offered a wave. The women exchanged glances and simply wove back.

"See! I told you they would be friendly." The silver one spoke and jumped over to them making a loud crash. It was in melee range and could kill them easily. Lakyus tried to remain calm as did the rest, this wasn't playing out so badly yet.

"Oh sorry, didn't mean to jump that far, um..." The silver dragon spoke in an apologetic manner and backed up a tad, the golden dragon finally came flying in gently landed.

"It's just we saw you come out of that [GATE] and figured you might be up to no good, but then we heard you all talking and it didn't seem like you knew what was going on." The silver one spoke in a somewhat feminine voice.

"Sister, let them talk, you're rambling." The golden and now very male sounding dragon said. The female silver dragon just nodded and then gave the girls a look.

"Um yes, that's exactly it... seems we fell into an enemy trap and were sent here for some reason, we really don't mean to intrude. Lakyus spoke clearly as to show she meant the truth. The silver one then began talking again.

"Yes well I could tell by how few you were and how weak you all are that this was probably a misunderstanding, my brother just wanted to kill you and be done with it, but i said, I told him it's been so long since we've seen anybody it might be nice to talk to them before we kill them... OH! Not that we are going to kill you or anything, it's just that..." The golden dragon put his claws on his sister's mouth to make her stop talking.

"It's true, but as I see you mean us no harm, or rather, wouldn't be able to harm us even if you tried... tell us, what do you plan on doing?" he asked calmly.

"Uh, we were trying to figure that one out as well. As we just got here, we have no idea where to even head... even if we could travel." Evileye said honestly. The silver dragon tried to talk again but the golden one still had a hold of her mouth.

"What I'm sure my sister is trying to say right now is she know of a spell that could help you, or could put you in even more peril... it's a "flip of the coin" as it were." He told them, the sister just nodded enthusiastically.

"What... what are the risks?" Evileye asked.

"It's a teleportation spell, but it's not that good as it will transport you from this lake to another body of water roughly the same size, so you won't end up in the ocean, but you will find yourselves in a body of water, that may or may not be close to your lands." He explained they all nodded, this did sound like a gamble, but as there were not too many bodies of water this size that were known, it seemed like worth taking a gamble on.

"So there is no way to narrow it down?" She pleaded but expecting the same reply.

"I'm afraid as "helping others" isn't technically allowed for us, this is best we can do." He said finally letting go of his sister's mouth. She began talking immediately.

"Indeed, the people that used to live here are all dead, so we got kinda lonely here, um we're technically supposed to kill any intruders but I had a feeling you guys were okay, and it seems I was right, man you're luck it was us on guard duty today, if any of the other saw you, they'd kill you right away, well no, some would torture you and eat you alive first and then heal you and eat you some more and do that for a long time, but..." Her mouth was grabbed shut again.

"Sister, they don't need to hear of such things, so have you little ladies made up your minds? Care to uh... "roll the dice" as it were?" He asked the group. As it seemed the only option nobody really had a problem with this it seemed as nobody spoke up against Lakyuses affirmative nod. He motioned to stand on the water, they walked, expecting to sink but it was like the hard ground, no matter how far they walked it was fine.

"Okay well, you little ladies hang on alright? Oh, and if you end up dying, I'm really sorry if it makes any of you feel better I will be trying to send you someplace you will like, but that won't do any good, for whatever reason, this spell of mine doesn't like to listen to me so I..." Her brother gave her a look. She stopped and placed her claws on the water, the water began to ripple more and more till all four were suddenly sucked into the water.

"Guh gah!" Was all Remedios could blurt out under the water, she looked around and saw everyone in her party except Evileye who was calmly swimming to the surface, Remedios got ahold of her nerves and followed, even if swimming in this armor was very hard, even if it did not weigh much. They all broke the surface of the water and gasped for air then looked around. They could make out some kind of huts off into the distance and smoke from fire, this at least was a civilization of some kind as they got closer and walked out of the water they saw the resistance of the village, many Lizardmen.

"What are those, Demihumans?" Remedios spat out water. None of the Lizardmen spoke but ran back when the women walked out from their lake. It seemed there was one that was waiting for them, It was a large blue monster with some kind of crystals coming from its back, it held a large sword in one hand and it's tail thrashed menacingly back and forth.

"YOU. COME. HERE. UNINVITED. INTRUDERS. THIS. WAS. A. MISTAKE." The large bug-like man yelled. Evileye put up her hands.

"No! We don't mean to trespass, this was a misunderstanding, a big mistake, we really just want to get back to E-Rantel!" She pleaded, her words seem to affect him.

"I. SEE. FINE. I. HAVE. NO. WISH. TO. KILL. YOU. IF. YOU. DON'T. MEAN. TO. ATTACK. US. LITTLE. VAMPIRE. GIRL." It said. Remedios looked at Evileye stunned at what that thing called her. Lakyus had heard some rumors of one such as this and decided to ask about it.

"Excuse me for my rudeness noble... knight, but you serve The Great and Wise Sorcerer king, Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, do you not?" She asked hoping to show respect to his master would further endear this thing to them, he shot out a large amount of steam from his... mouth? And nodded.

"AH. IT. SEEMS. YOU. ARE. NOT. IGNORANT. AFTERALL. PLUS. YOU. SHOW. PROPER. RESPECT. WHEN. USING. MY. LORDS. NAME!" The large man said sounding happy the lizard men behind him nodded enthusiastically. Lakyus instinctively bowed as any noblewoman would to a known knight. It was going well.

"You're a filthy vampire?" Remedios spat turning to Evileye who took a step back looking at the paladin. Lakyus got between the two of them then looked apologetically at the large blue creature.

"Remedios this isn't the time for this! Evileye is a trusted friend and companion, what her race has not made a difference to any of us!" Lakyus pleaded. Remedios looked at the blue man then back to Evileye, she maintained her glare but would not press the issue further for the time.

"IT. WOULD. SEEM. YOU. TWO. HAVE. SOME. UNRESOLVED. ISSUES. BUT. I. ASK. YOU. KEEP. THE. PEACE. HERE. UNTIL. WE. GUIDE. YOU. TO. WHERE. YOU. WILL. NEED. TO. GO." It spoke as another Red Lizardman wearing amazing armor rode up on the back of a four-headed beast. The giant blue man nodded that it would be fine.

"I am aware of one of these women, they are not enemies, and I would offer them a ride if they pleased, to the outskirts of our land." He said bowing his head to Lakyus. Tina who just now revealed herself nodded at the friendly monster, she wanted to ride it badly it seemed. So as offered he gave them a ride in very awkward or even hostile silence.

Back at a forest that straddles the borders of The Slane theocracy and The Sorcerer kingdom.

"Shit...shit...shit...shit..." Clementine cursed under her breath as she made her way to the edge of the forest. After a coughing fit that ended in her gagging and a few dry heaves, she was finally able to walk more. Eating, ever since her punishment, always would bring on this fit soon after, she would have to switch to an easier diet to maintain her health it would seem. She was going to be late to her rendezvous if she stopped again. But she saw the one she was waiting for. Another girl wearing a cloak exactly like hers. White and black eyes peered at her from the slit in the cloak.

"You almost didn't make it on time." The shorter of the two said coldly.

"I made it... so let's go," Clementine said, but the other one retorted coldly.

"I work for Lady Entoma, don't think one in... your position can order me around." She rebuked but also did as asked, Clementine gave it no thought, they both knew where they were headed so there would be no need to talk further. They were walking when the short girl with one white eye pointed at a carriage. Clementine nodded, there could be a fight, it's why she was asked to escort this small "caster" to the store.

"Slane Theocracy maybe?" Clementine asked but the small girl shook her head.

"I never disclosed this information about the store to the Slane Theocracy, and the ones I sent to buy for me are all dead, as well, all their available people are mounting a "hidden war" against The Elf King... many elves will soon die." She said with a matter of fact tone.

"But still... never thought we'd be on the same side again," Clementine said to her former black scripture comrade. Zesshi just shrugged.

"They will all work Nazarick one day, or die." Clementine nodded, she knew all too well their methods of turning enemies loyal as well as making them die.

It wasn't long till they came across a group of adventurers all talking loudly at a fire camp. Clementine and her fellow agent of Nazarick snuck in closer to listen to their conversation.

"Ha! Sure is good The Blue Roses didn't mess with our shopping spree!" A man with blonde long hair said, he wore white leather armor that would shimmer blue every so often, the very long curved katana that sat next to him looked like something a hero from legend would wield. His pants were matching and his black boots radiated a sinister aura, as did his matching gauntlets that were black with red straps around them.

"Why would they? They are fellow adamantine adventures like us, so long as we said nothing, neither would they, I told you two." A blonde-haired woman with all-black eyes said, her robe shone on seven colors that always were moving and waving, it gave off its open light separate from the fire, her shoes looked like they were both made of glass, no water, her boots were water wrapped around her legs. The one she directed her voice to was a large man with two huge battle axes at his side, one had an image of the grim reaper on it (they thought it was Ainz Ooal Gown) and the other an angel. He had chains that wrapped around both his arms but would loosen and tighten at his movements, they looked like snakes almost but made no sound at all. His pants and boots looked just like normal clothes one would wear, however, his vest that looked like it was made of dragon hide matched them well. He just grunted and looked at the fire.

"Well whatever, we got a good thing going, no need to get greedy, I don't think that store will ever run out of wares." A skinny man in a creepy white mask said, it was covered by a top hat and the black trench coat he wore seemed to turn to smoke at some point as it billowed out around the mans feet, he was leaning up against a tree strumming a lute that was just as sinister and menacing as the rest of his get-up.

"What are we doing?" Clementine asked. Zesshi made a cut-throat motion with her finger.

"Just make it fast... my spell won't last forever." The short girl answers. Clementine nodded, there was a time where she would spend all night with those four, especially that girl, but as it was, she would never risk upsetting him, not if it meant going back to learn better manners once more.

"Don't worry, I'll kill them in one hit... it's sorta my thing, remember?" Clem said getting into position, she took her signature stance, put her hips up and her hand low like a cat waiting for the go word. That word was the girl casting [MASS HOLD SPECIES] and the rest was like clockwork. Two were dead before they even knew they were under a spell's effect.

The large man was first as his back was to her, as she ran past him she stuck him twice in the neck and head without losing a step, right as the girl thought something was wrong two stiletto blades found their mark into either side of her large chest. The man with the lute seemed to resist the spell but as he fumbled for his magical dagger he dropped it, the curse he let out was the last word he would ever say before a stiletto pierced his eyes and exploded in lightning. Clementine then pivoted on her heel throwing her blade dead center into the swordsman's face who had not moved an inch.

"Not bad, not bad..." The caster girl with one white eye said doing an overdramatic applause. Clementine paid her no heed as they stripped the powerful items and weapons from the now-dead Light of the Lost adventurer team. The two pushed on till they came up to the shop. The girl grabbed Clementine's shoulder and motioned to an area next to the entrance, there was a little ninja girl in hiding, using stealth.

"I can't afford to be seen... and that was my only cast of that spell, you gotta do this one by yourself." The short girl said falling back. "It was only one... this would be easy." She thought to herself, the girl even had her back turned to her. Once again Clementine tool her trademark stance and focused on the girl crouched down and was off. She struck across the short field like a black lightning bolt, the ninja girl turned just in time to see the sinister grin of Clementine's face and then a flash of silver, but that was enough she used an evasive special ability and brought her own blade up between the crossed blades of Clementine. The blow still knocked her off balance but she recovered with a flip and perfect landing. Clementine stood up and spun both her stilettos menacingly in her hands.

"Not bad little ninja girl, not bad," Clementine said in a mocking tone followed by a creepy laugh, the girl threw a smoke bomb at the ground but Clem's dash had already passed the point where she threw it, making her escape a failure this time Clementine stuck with her left hand, the ninja parried as expected so she followed that with her right blade at her chest and drove it in deep before activating its spell of [FIREBALL] this was put into her blade by the one she hated the most, the one know as Ainz Ooal Gown, her new master. The explosion was so fierce that it even threw Clementine backward but her coat helped her resist the fire damage, she recovered in the air with a graceful flip and landed in her "cat pose" attack stance ready to finish her off if she somehow was alive. But the girl lay flat on her back smoke rising from her chest and arm but she seemed to be breathing still.

"Wow, how are you not dead?" Clementine asked walking over and spinning her stilettos then she saw the girls' damage was all fire, she had not been pierced.

"What did you do? A shadow clone shield? But the explosion still got ya didn't it?" She hunched over the unconscious ninja girl and frowned. No fun if she isn't awake...

"What the hell happened?" Zesshi yelled. Clementine thought she was yelling at her but when she met the girl's face she saw Zesshi was looking at a vacant lot, one where a store had been. Clementine shook her head. It was there just a second ago before she attacked the ninja girl, how does an entire store of that size simply vanish? Clementine noticed a small sign hanging where the store had been, but she could not read the writing.

"Is she the reason for this? No... someone "too strong" must have entered..." Both women clicked their tongues at the same time. Clementine frowned, but she had done her job, the fact that the damn building moved was beyond her, she was probably safe. Zesshi seemed to be talking to someone in her head, orders were being relayed.

"Looks like you have work to do," Zesshi said in a knowing tone.

"What? Don't tell I have to find where it went?" Her boss laughed and shook her head.

"No, you will do what you do best... favor a trip to Re-Estize?" Zesshi asked. Clementine looked at her with a "huh?" look. Zesshi smiled.

"Seems some nobles in that part of the land need your special treatment, I'll give you the list of names, but I've been ordered to go with you." She said writing something down on a small piece of parchment.

"Don't you have a job guarding that door for the black scripture?" Clementine ask.

"That doors contents have already been handed over to our masters, and the clone that is sitting in for me will inherit the punishment for allowing it the get robbed if it's found out." She offered with a shrug.

"Either way my allegiance to Lady Entoma is more important..." We will head to Re-Estize first thing in the morning after we've had a chance to rest." Zesshi directed.

"Alright, tell me when that ninja girl wakes up, I'm calling dibs on some of this gear, it's pretty good!" Clementine exclaimed looking at all the loot she took off her victims.

"Why? You gonna question her or something?" Zesshi asked, but Clementine shook her head.

"Naw... nothing like that." Zesshi frowned.

"You still haven't changed have you?" Clem just shrugged as if to say "I am what I am". As she wrapped some magical snake-like chains around her arms. She stood up and threw a punch at the air, suddenly the chain unwrapped and struck a smaller tree, knocking it in half about twenty-five feet away. (around 8 meters). Next, she slipped on the black boots that would double her running and dash speed...perfect!

Zesshi looked at some of their gear and took a ring and an amulet, as well as throwing on the black coat the man with the lute had once donned before meeting a clumsy end. Under the coat, she donned the white leather armor that would shimmer blue on occasion. Finally, she slips on the black and red gloves.

"We are allowed to use this "junk gear" my mistress has said. Picking up the long katana and putting on her back where her scythe would usually be. Clementine smiled as she put on the sinister white mask. She rather enjoyed the black grin it had plastered to its eyeless pale face, it went well with her hood and allowed her to do considerably more damage with melee attacks.


	8. The grand performance

The portal of [GATE] opened and the two women in black cloaks stepped through to the chilly climate of The Kingdom's capital of Re-Estize. They looked around but nobody was up at this hour and this was a run-down area anyway. They both activated [INVISIBILITY] and made for a dark rooftop where they could get a good lay of the area.

"Okay, we need to target a Princess that lives there." Zesshi pointed to the castle way off in the distance.

"Um, you said we'd be killing Nobles, only royals up in that place," Clementine said in a slight scoff.

"Yeah about that, listen, this is very, very important," Zesshi said making her voice serious as she could. She had Clementine's attention.

"I've been told to tell you, that if you screw this up, you will spend the rest of, however long they decide, in the "bug room"... whatever the hell that is... you understand." Some bile crept up Clementine's mouth and she doubled over heaving at the thought of what she had just heard, Zesshi seemed satisfied that she understood the consequences of failing this next mission.

"We are... you are going to attack Princess Renner." She said. Clementine looked up wiping her mouth in a shocked looked.

"Killing the princess? That's... going to be fun!" Clem said, starting to feel better.

"No, listen very well, I said attack, this has to go down as planned, so listen up or... "you know what"." The smile disappeared and Clementine became very serious and was listening best she could.

"She will be protected by two, somewhat capable men, nothing you can't handle I hope. Her first guard will not be in armor and will be using a curved sword like the one I have on my back, but shorter. He will have dark hair, and you are only to beat him, do not overdo it, just subdue him without inflicting too much damage." Clementine thought for a second, even if she was miles beyond this man, not taking his life would be tough, but she could do it so long as he's just a swordsman and not a monk or caster.

"The second will be in "shiny mythril armor" and will be blonde. This one you are to wound very badly, not so bad as to kill him but make it bad enough he will require "a lot of bed rest and tending too." So I guess just use your imagination." Clem nodded her head, she knew how to that no problem.

"Now this part is the easiest but the most important... When you make you move for Princess Renner you must only hurt her a bit, make it look as if you miss and only manage to cut her arm and fail at your "assassination". Don't overdo it, Clem, only enough to draw a good amount of blood that will look bad against a white dress, by no means are you to do any real or painful damage, understand?" The blonde-haired masked woman nodded gravely, she burned her orders into her soul, she would pull this off without a hitch. Clementine would remember the words of these orders word for word till the day she died.

"You said, "make it look..." Clem asked. Zesshi nodded.

"Yes, you will be doing this in broad daylight in front of as many people as possible, we want to sell this as an "assassination failed by sheer luck", got it?" Clementine removed her mask to show she was dead serious on doing as told.

"Alright, I trust you will do this for us... now as for me, I have a date with some nobles, meet me at the Gazef Stronoff memorial when you are finished, I'll be there by the time you "fail", after making your retreat make sure to say very loud something along the lines of "I'll get you next time!" or whatever, you understand, alright go!" She finished up her orders to Clementine and the two jumped off the tall building and ran in the opposite direction under cover of night.

"This is almost fun with how many rules are attached to it." Clementine thought to herself as she planned how to go about her attack, "The first one will probably the hardest." A frown formed on her face under the creepy mask. She'd have to deal with whatever "special move" he called his ace attack, all swordsmen had one of those.

"As for the shiny boy..." She muttered under her breath, she could picture a dozen ways to maim him and not take his life, she'd simply choose one of her favorites... then there was the princess, "just a scratch", nothing could go wrong as long as she didn't do anything unexpected, a good shallow cut on the back would look serious but would easily be healed by a potion which one of her bodyguards will have handy.

"Alright... just gotta wait for her to make a public appearance." She said low enough so only she would hear it. She was assured Princess Renner would be making daily rounds in the impoverished areas, where she was now. So she leaned up in a dark corner on an inconspicuous but high rooftop and waited.

Zesshi floated through the sky with the combined spells of [INVISIBILITY] and [FLY] she could easily make this look like a multi-team attack as planned. From her orders and Clementines, it wasn't hard to guess what the overall plan was. All three of her targets were very outspoken supporters of Princess Renner, they weren't particularly influential men but they were trying to elevate their statuses by supporting a "dark horse". Should their gamble pay off they would presumably, be in a very good place should Renner raise in actual political standing more and more. As it was, all three would be sacrificed for the greater good of making it look like some kind of bloody coupe was taking place against a "spare of a spare" the questions cast by this alone would make her more interesting, then combined with the "failed" attack, her support will probably raise to near public outcry. The Golden Princess will be in a position to move the hearts and minds of the masses that make up the easily manipulated populous of her father's kingdom, even the noles that do not jump on her bandwagon will be cast in suspicion of her attempted assassination, the easily scared nobles will make it a point to show their "newfound support" for The Golden Princess as she makes her courageous climb back to health.

Zesshi suspected, heavily, that this whole plan was her plan, to begin with, she simply had too much to gain from it going as ordered. And how easy it all will go shows that this plan was waiting to hatch at the right time of a particularly bad political climate. The image of her favorite square puzzle came to mind, all side matching and in the hands of a Princess with a smile so warm it could melt the hearts of the frozen mountains up north. The final thought before she landed on the rooftop of her first target was "as expected...".

It was a long day, he had attended the nobles meeting in E-Rantel a few days ago but still feeling the effects of sitting on that stupid bench of the horrible carriage his father bought for him. He sighed, the old man meant well, he just cared more for appearances than comfort.

"And that's the right choice..." The young man muttered as he poured himself a glass of wine.

"I could really get that for you!" A cute girl who was fourteen years old said dressed as a well respected and treated maid.

"Nonsense! I told you the only job you must ever perform around her is simply be seen and be cute, I would never think to ask of you anything more than that Velliana. Speaking of which it is far too late for you to be on duty, go enjoy your time off with the others, I think they went to the tavern around the corner that stays open all night." he said with a smile she bowed with a giggle.

"Well I can't really drink yet but okay i will join them... oh, but that will leave you alone here?" She asked in a cute manner. He wove his hand in a display of apathy to the question.

"Very well Lord Galuff, I will fetch you in the morning." She said with an all too cute bow and giggle.

"I will be fine Velliana, you will find me here in the morning next to this, soon to be, an empty bottle of wine." He held it up in a fine display, she nodded and bowed then made her way out of the house. The tired noble who was just a second son until recently took a sip of wine before he was suddenly looking up at his own headless body, the glass of wine he had planned to enjoy falling onto his face. Ruining the carpet he so loved to look at as he drank. Zesshis shadow of death then reached out to another unsuspecting household...

Lissandra held a pitcher of warm milk and poured it into a well-made glass and handed it to her husband. He thanked her and blew on it before taking a sip and smiling.

"Oh, it's good!" He exclaimed, she patted her rotund husband on the head before kissing him and getting up to close the drapes, it was late and she would have to get up in the morning to make sure the servants had the house in the way he enjoyed it, should just a single cup or chair be out of place, there would be a long and self serving speech about order and discipline that would take up most of the day, after which nothing would get done, so she had to double-check their efforts, so she had to make sure to be awake before her husband each morning, such was the duty of a loving wife and mother.

"Did you put Shelly to bed Lissandra?" He asked in an odd tone.

"Of course dear, you think I'd let our little girl stay up this late, why do you ask?" His response had a delay to it as if he was trying to think of something.

"Because there's a girl in our room with pigtails..." Her husband said in a now oddly startled voice.

The next house she had to target was far on the other side of town, she'd make it a point to hurry...

Daren lay alone on his bed, he told mother and father that he was feeling better, but to be honest he was still kind of sick. He'd eaten some questionable "merchant food" the day before and was now paying its hidden tax.

"Mom, you were right as always!" He muttered to himself as he remembered the way she had warned him about food not made at home. A lesson he'd have to learn time and time again. He looked down at the two extra chamber pots he'd asked the maid to bring up "just in case". He gave it some thought and decided he'd be okay for now. It wouldn't serve anyone to wake them up walking around all night. Daren yawned and drank some water and drifted off to bed feeling a little bit better, he'd tell mom how right she was in the morning. That was the night Daren Terringington would inherit his family estate and become its sole male paterfamilias. And with that Zesshi's night of death was finished, she just simply had to get good seats for the upcoming show Clementine is about to put on...

The morning came all too soon, Clementine opened her eyes at the sound of people beginning their daily routine. She thought of eating but decided on just a stamina potion she'd purchased for cheap at the shop that used to be in a forest till not too long ago. This was the only thing she could drink that didn't make her sick an hour later. She shoved the worry of what to do when she ran out to the back of her head, it would be "showtime" soon enough. And it was. Around two hours until noon the cheers and cried of the masses could be heard coming her way, the streets were already beginning to fill with the onlookers coming to see what all the buzz was about and there she was, like a perfect statue made of freshly fallen snow, but radiating a golden aura as the morning sun lit up her bright blonde hair. Before her walked a knight in the shiny armor she had told to be on the lookout for, but the first, the hardest she did no see right off hand, he was probably dressed like a commoner and walking among the crowd in low profile looking to counter-attack any problem makers.

"Competent people are always such a bother, oh well, I'll easily draw him out... this is going to be a fine performance!" She muttered under her breath, from this position, it would be all too easy to wait as she passed beneath this house she stood on now activate her [INVISIBILITY], jump down onto the walking, lightly guarded princess and end her before anyone even knew what was going on, Clementine would be away and escaping... but this story was much more interesting than all that. When she came a little closer Clementine jumped from her rooftop and landed roughly 30 feet/9 meters in front of the princess in full view of everyone, she had the mask on and her hood up, a suitable costume for the star in this show.

At once the startled people ran back opening up the stage, the first actor was the young lad, he put himself between her and his object of love, it was obvious even to Clementine how he felt just how meaningful he stood, it was a pose that said "On my life, you will not pass me!." His acting was superb! Better than any bard could hope to match. Clementine used [ABILITY BOOST] and just to be sure [GREATER ABILITY BOOST]. Her whole world sped up as even the shouts of fear and panic from the crowd melded into one large low drone, everyone was standing still, she could even make out each individual blink from the blonde-headed youth standing before her. Clementine moved to put this young man to heel when her mask alerted her to the presence of a hostile presence coming up behind her. The fact that she could not hear or even detect his killing intent was a true testament to his skill, she would not underestimate this one.

"Well hello, handsome!" Clementine taunted as she dramatically spun around to meet her first performer of this play. The man gave no sign of caring and simply dropped down into a low stance and placed his hand on his the hilt of his sheathed curved blade and smirked.

"Don't know what you were planning here lady, but you let me walk right up into my Nail Cutters range, goodbye." He said before faster than Clementine could make out he made a move and four blades were coming down at her at once, two were simple enough to handle, her guard was already up so blocking them was easy, the two that followed from odd angles but still on target were the ones she could not intercept or block. Luckily the very second the mask had alerted her to his presence she had used [FLOW ACCELERATION], it was this increase in speed that allowed her to use [GREATER EVASION] to sidestep one to the point that its slash would be blocked by her recently acquired dragon skin vest. However doing so was stepping right into a critical strike of the fourth had she not used [INVULNERABLE FORTRESS] at just the right time her lines would be ruined, and her reviews from the critics the next night, awful!

"Then the two did something so fast nobody could see it happen!" Is what the less imaginative bards will simply say when retailing this particular scene in the drama that was unfolding.

"Wow, nice strike!" She blurted out her honest praise, that attack had such focus and will behind it she was glad she had practiced her lines so well the night before. But this was her big moment, she had hit her maximum of martial arts used but the fact that she had avoided his attack with such grace made him stay open in a look a shock that betrayed his earlier will and determination, to that look Clementine offered her retort...

"Gaaaah!" The swordsman cried out in pain as she slashed at his left bicep and right palm at once with both her blades, disarming him. As her weapons were thrusting weapons, a slash would do minimal damage and would take him out of this fight long enough to get on with the rest of the performance. Ah! The blonde actor was going to try his hand at free libbing this scene and tried to sneak attack the would-be assassin, this move betrayed the honorable and noble armor he donned but spoke to how badly he wished to fulfill his role, alas, his end would be the most tragic of the ones putting on a show tonight.

"Have fun recovering from this." She thought as she brought both of her weapons up under his arms shattering the armor and the bones as well as everything else that stood in the way of her duel strikes, as his arms became useless and fell to his side, the pain had not yet even reached his brain by the time she was delivering her follow up strikes to his thighs, she drove both stilettos to the hilt into his legs before running past the collapsing boy.

"Princess run!" Was what he cried out instead of pain, but the response was one who knew her role all too well!

"Let it be known my father's blood does not flee from danger!" She cried out to the crowd which, if not overcome by fear and panic would surely let out a cry of adoration for such a well-spoken performance. The bards would be particularly kind in describing this next part, most hate to think of what she must have had to endure. Clementine waited for what seemed like hours as the young heroine gave her final piece of the days charade.

Before anyone could blink Clementine slashed out and cut the right arm of The Princess, the cry of pain she gave out was more beautiful than pain-filled, then she spun like a dancer offering up her back like so much sacrificial flesh, Clementine fought the urge to nod at the beautiful princess and instead did a follow up attack that would send a lovely spray of scarlet so far that people watching would catch this performance across their faces first hand.

And with that this street sideshow came to a close as Clementine exited stage left and forwent any roses that her adoring fans would no doubt throw if they held them, and not so filled with horror. She was gone before the golden starlet would lay dramatically across the street crying out for help.


	9. The new master

"About time we made it out of that forest" Albedo said as they walked past the last row of trees, but she knew it was better than swimming. The green glow Aura had pointed out was now lighting up the path. Cautiously they followed it. Keeping quiet all the elves now rode together on Hejinmal with the rest of the party keeping a very tight formation. It wasn't long till their progress was halted. As large as the opening was, about thirty or so Hejinmal's... it was cut off by a huge black iron fence. The nameless undead was standing at it looking in silence.

"What the heck is this thing doing here?" Aura and Shelter asked in unison.

"It says no slave may pass," he said pointing at writing on the floor that lay before the fence.

"No slaves?" Nissa asked and looked at Mare who just smiled at her, she blushed slightly.

"Alright Test, get to it!" Aura said pointing to the gate.

"Test?" Albedo asked.

"Well we keep using him to test stuff... so let's call him, Test!" She said with a smile but a small frown, she was still breaking in her new shoes and they were kinda stiff. He opened the gate and walked through, but it slammed shut behind. Aura tried to open it, but would not budge.

"Weird..." Aura said perplexed. Albedo, Shalltear, Hejinmal, Pe Riyuro, Mare, even the elf slaves all tried, nobody could budge it.

"I think... because we all consider Lord Ainz our master... we are technically slaves, we might need to force out way past or around.. but that usually comes with huge risks and dangers." Mare thought out loud. His reasoning was would also explain how Test could go past. It was then Pandora's Actor walked up in his normal form as a German soldier put his hand on the gate and walked through as if he knew for a fact it would open for him.

"Huh? Why do you get to go through?" Shalltear asked stunned, even Albedo looked speechless.

"Simple, my subservience to father is one of a devoted son to a loving father, not a slave who loves his master... I am family, not a slave to our beloved Lord!" He explained calmly. They stood in shock. Albedo especially seemed moved by his words and was fighting back tears of joy...or maybe anger? Nobody could really tell.

"So what? Only you can progress?" The black-armored succubus complained. He waited as they tried all manner of magic, [GATE] would not summon anywhere beyond this metals construct, neither would [GREATER BREAK ITEM] work. Seemed all short cuts around would not work, at least not obvious ones, even Mare was unable to find a spot on the rock walls and floor where things didn't block them off.

"Do not worry, I will go ahead and look for a way to let you into this barred off area, I promise!" He said as his formed changed to that of a ninja, he equipped himself with two katana and stealth gear.

"Lord Nishikienrai?" Then you are going to stealth around till you find something then?" Albedo asked, he just nodded and took a classic ninja pose before vanishing. He ran down the path that led out to where the glow was, he passed Test who didn't notice him and came upon a giant structure, it resembles a crypt.

"Ah, so it's a crypt after all." Test exclaimed to Pandora's Actor who unstealthed next to him. As he looked up he could see the metal bars all met at one point above this massive crypt, it would seem the gate was actually just part of a huge metal sphere cage, and this structure sat at the very center, this is where he would find whatever he needed to let the others through. As they approached two large statues that stood on either side of a massive stone door began to stir, Pandora's Actor immediately dropped back into stealth but Test just walked straight ahead as he was one to do. But instead of attacking, they each turned to opened each side of the double door. After a few loud seconds of rock grinding upon rock, it was fully opened for them and the two large golem statues each gave a bow of respect at the same time they went back to their original stations.

"We going in Test?" he asked to the undead who was already making his way in.

"Yes, this is what I was looking for." He said, Pandora's Actor suddenly grew a little wary of Test, what was he after in here? They walked down an illuminated hallway of sickly green, it was long and huge, four or five of those giant golems could walk this hall and not touch shoulders, but it was also plain, no carpet, no pictures, just a vast corridor lit up, the walk seemed like forever. At the end of this hall were two equally huge sets of stairs, one leading down, one leading up. test stopped and looked back and forth between the two.

"Which way Test?" He whispered.

"I...I do not know." For the first time, there was a hint of worry in his voice.

"I think this is a trap, one way will probably kill us, the other will be the way we seek." Pandora's Actor though, there was an entire section of Nazarick that would do this, it was made to "thin the herd" of large raiding parties. They thought for a bit but then Test just walked over to the wall and sat up against it.

"What are you doing?" The ninja asked the resting undead.

"I don't know where to go, so I will wait till I can think of something." Test said truthfully and laid his head back against the wall, except for his missing feet and shortened pants, he was the spitting image of when they first had come upon him. Seems he'd be no help here, he'd most likely just choose the opposite staircase that Pandora's Actor would take, or the same one... either way, this was his show now. As he thought a slight movement from the opposite wall test sat on caught Pandor's Actors eye, we looked over and saw some shuffling words and letters.

"Need a hint?" It spelled out. The ninja frowned and walked up to it.

"Are you the one that took Aura in the ruins?" He asked without emotion.

"Yes." It spelled.

"Why?"

"Alone, for so long... alone." Pandora's Actor shook his head.

"Then why try and kill her?" He asked, now becoming angry.

"I would not have hurt the child, I was just playing. I made the stakes look high but I did not want to actually endanger her." It spelled. He wondered if it was apologizing or just stating the truth.

"She said you almost choked her to death." He said with anger creeping into his voice.

"I was angry, she... I thought she had cheated, but I was wrong... if you see her again please tell her I am sorry for that." What a weird thing this wall was.

"Okay, so how is his brother?" Pandora's Actor pointed to the undead.

"Boring, does not want to play, so he's just laying up against the room I have him in." It told him.

"Then why not release him?"

"He has to agree to me releasing him, it's one of the rules I am forced to follow... but he only shrugs when I ask him if he wants me to let him out... he's incredibly boring." Pandora's Actor chuckled a little bit.

"So what the deal with this staircase?" He asked assuring his arm behind him.

"This place that I guard, it has a series of riddles and puzzles to keep out intruders, all of which I have turned off... nobody has come to challenge this crypt in so long, I just figured that the next "master" that walk in I'd just award him ownership of this place."

"So you are the one keeping my party from entering?"

"Yes, no one who calls another master can inherit this place... it would seem you two were the only two that qualified, and I do not think he is cut out for this, but you look like a very capable master... so it doesn't matter which staircase you take, all roads will lead to me, and the power to call this place yours." It laid out on the wall before him. He thought, this very well could be another trap... but a trap that just forces you to make a 50/50 decision... is not much of a trap, as that was their only choice to begin with...barring any secret entrances like that.

As soon as he thought that he saw a brick that looked a little out of place, with a smirk and an over-exaggerated gesture he reached out and slammed his hand on the odd brick... but also it was only a brick that was slightly out of place, it held no secrets. And as the wall no longer seemed to want to talk he just choose the path leading down, test followed him. Again they descended for what seemed forever, Pandora's Actor never letting Test all the way out of his sight, and then they came to a room.

It was lit up all around with the same spooky green glow that lit up the entire crypt, and in the center sat an empty throne, the wall next to them began to move.

"Whichever one of you sits on this throne will be called master, the one here will serve you as slaves, however..."

"I'll never be allowed to leave this room would I?" Pandora's Actor finished.

"Correct, your mana and life energy will bring this dormant place to life, and you will literally become all your followers, all 800,000 sleeping soldiers that inhabit this tomb will share your mind, while your actual body will be tied her, your mind will be free to control every soldier as if it were your own body all at once. Pandora's Actor thought at this prospect.

"How powerful are these soldiers?" he asked.

"They will feed off your essence, each soldier will become half as strong as you are now."

"So 800,000 level 50 undead warriors? That isn't so bad..." He pondered especially as they would all be as smart as him, he smiled at the thought of 800,000 soldiers all clicking their heels in unison and saluting his father at once... that made for a wonderful sight. But the thought of never returning to Nazarick was all it took to shatter that illusion and he shook his head.

"No, I can't accept this offer, I am sorry but I will not take the throne." Pandora's Actor said over dramatically as he held his head low and rose a single arm. But the response was not the one he expected.

"It seems it does not matter anyway." It said he was curious.

"Why is that?" this wall could not "sigh" but he got the impression that's what it was doing.

"Your rival is already sitting on the throne... the choice has been made." It said as the letters then simply vanished. Pandora's Actor saw Test sitting upon the throne.

"Test?" He looked up at the doppelganger.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Uh... what are you planning to do?" The situation had become tense all of a sudden. Test simply looked at him.

"This is where I was trying to get to, now I have... I guess I'm done." And he laid his head back against the giant throne that was five times too large for him and took a familiar pose against it.

"Can you let me and my friends I was with free to go to the other side of this room?" Asking nervously, and as to answer his question, Pandora's Actor along with Shalltear, Albedo, Aura, Mare, the elf slaves on Hejinmal's back and Pe Riyuro were all outside of the cage, but on the opposite side of the giant crypt.

"What?" Shalltear asked looking around

"I found us a way past, let us continue on!" Pandoras actor said taking the form of Ulbert Alain Odle once more and gesturing to continue down the giant pathway that lay before them, it was not a tunnel, like they had been traveling, but formed rock, the floor had been worked to be smooth and flat and the walls were also worked smooth with wall carvings all along the side depicting some kind of giant event or war, as interesting as it would have been to sit and study it, that was not their orders so they pressed on into the darkness.

"Master Test, is it really okay to just let them leave?" He looked over at the wall that "spoke" to him.

"Oh sure, they're nice people, oh by the way, how is my brother?" He asked the wall. It readout...

"Ah well he was returned once you took the throne, he wanted to speak with you I think as well,"

"It's fine, so just tell me what this castle can do."


	10. The worst Solution

"Thanks for the lift!" Lakyus called out the Lizardman and his hydra as they walked away, Tina especially seems to like the hydra, she asked the blue bug knight thing if it was okay to visit him, The giant knight did not see a problem with it so long as they behaved. Tina seemed worried though as her hawk would not go to her twin sister.

"Still nothing?" Lakyus asked. Tina shook her head but looked more worried than last time.

"Assuming she is around the same area we left her... our hawk skill should be in range... if it can't find her, the reason is not a good one." She said in a quiet tone. Lakyus and Evileye exchanged worried glances but then looked at the paladin behind them. Remedios hadn't said a word the whole time they traveled. Lakyus assumed out of politeness but the fact that she still had not spoken but carried that unpleasant expression of her face was very worrisome, she decided to get this over with now, as it would also get Tina's mind off her missing sister.

"Remedios... if this is going to be a problem, say something now, we can't go into battle with this kind of team mentality." Lakyus pleaded. Remedios sighed and turned to Evileye.

"Were you made...that way against your will?" Remedios asked, cutting right to the center of a sore subject.

"That's... that's not...I..." Evileye was clearly distressed.

"Fine, then let me ask you this then... if you could if you could return yourself to human and forsake your power in exchange for a normal human life would you?" Remedios looked at Evileye. Evileye removed her mask and showed her face to Remedios for the first time.

"With this power I have... I've done a lot of good with it, I've helped a lot of people, even saved them... but the amount I've... yes I would probably if my sins would also be forgiven... then I would." She said meeting the paladin eye to eye.

Remedios let out a long sigh. She was clearly struggling internally with this. But her answer was a predictable one for someone like her.

"I can't help a known undead..." She got up and began walking alone toward E-Rantel. The remaining Blue Roses looked at one another and shrugged, this was something that could not be helped. Since they were still essentially traveling in the same direction however they gave her some room and began walking a ways behind her.

"How could they let a monster like that in their team?" Remedios wondered to herself looking over her shoulder at the women behind her, she hadn't really thought about the fact that they were headed the same way, but it seemed they were giving her some room. While she held no contempt for the two other girls, she was even worried about the little one's sister they left in The Slane Theocracy forest. A couple of events and a few days of travel and the women found their way to E-Rantel, but there was a buzz of news, news that Lakyus couldn't believe it when she heard it.

"An attempted coup against Princess Renner? Apparently, in one night someone made a move to eliminate this, no threat to anybody. Some skilled assassin even made a move on her, gravely wounding Climb and almost killing the princess as well. The members The Blue Rose looked at each other in shock, how could this happen to their friend!

"This is crazy, why would anybody want to kill her? She's basically a spare of a spare correct? This makes no sense!" Evileye said shocked as Lakyus tried to think why this had happened.

"I don't know why it has to be some plot against her or her family? Still, killing her, I don't see the benefit in it to anyone." Lakyus said completely at a loss, she wanted to make her way to The Kingdom right now but she still had a missing team member to deal with.

"Well while this is something we need to check up on, let's find Tia first," Lakyus said to Tina, they immediately booked travel close to the forest they had been teleported from days before without rest.

"What would she have done if we just vanished the way we did?" Evileye asked the ninja. Tina frowned.

"She would be waiting for us at E-Rantel, but before that..."

"The Hawk." Lakyus finish. She nodded once trying to hide her emotion.

"So what are we gonna do about that hideout shop anyway? Going in again seems a bad idea..." Lakyus shook her head. I've left word about it with Ainzach when we passed by in E-Rantel just now, he will send some low-level group to investigate this hideout of our imposters." She explained.

"But they could be anywhere if they used that black door thing to travel, that thing sent us an entire kingdom away. Well guess we just have to start from day one, but they will lose access to their stronghold at least." She said mostly to herself but still pointing at the entrance to the forest they had entered before, but as they traced their steps they came across a grisly sight three dead men and one woman who had been looted.

"Lakyus... this is..." Evileye said realizing who these bodies were. She looked sick.

"Another new adamantite team... but this is..."

"Yeah, our doubles didn't kill Dead Gods Incarnate... furthermore, I think this is just one person, maybe two if the other was a caster," Tina said looking at the ground, there was just one set of footprints, these adventurers were cut down before they even knew what happened.

"Tia wouldn't do this... so this is someone else." The leader of their team said motioning that they should continue. Tina sent a follow-up message by hawk to Ainzach about the fate and location of the Light of the Lost. However when they arrived in a giant empty plot where the old building was...

"This is the spot right?" Evileye asked looking shocked. They didn't answer just stared at a giant square of nothing but a small sign that no one could read. That's when they saw two feet sticking out from a tree Lakyus ran over and saw Tina laid up against it, she had wrapped herself up best she could but was barely hanging on by a thread, she probably had not eaten or drank in at least two or three days, four empty stamina and health potions lay at her side. After using healing spell after healing spell on her friend she was able to stabilize her and heal the burns that covered half her body, When she came around they gave her a little water and food until she could talk again. They didn't even need to ask her what happened, she gave a report of her fight and loss to a blonde-haired woman that matched the description of the fugitive Clementine.

"Sure sounds like her, even her fighting style and weapons, but if that was her... no way she would have let you live." Lakyus said shaking her head, Tia just shrugged at her apartment luck. The hawk they used could not track such a weak fading essence, that was why it had not discovered her when her sister had sent it out, but she was just glad she was alive.

"Well let's go back to a town I know of that's small but will suit our needs of rest and recovery, I want to fully be ready for when we get wind of that fake group next," Lakyus ordered, and the group caught their former missing team member up as to why they didn't have Remedios with them anymore. She shook her head at the ridiculousness of it. As they licked their wounds and recovered their strength for the next three days not else concerned the team other than each other's safety.

"That wasn't bad Clem, good job," Zesshi said upon seeing her fellow agent appear from behind a giant statue of the fallen hero Gazaf.

"Thanks, so what now? Are we done?" Clementine asked taking off her mask.

"Yeah, we will be moving on once I can use [GATE] with this amulet." She said holding up a nicely made necklace.

"Okay, so what do we do till then, kind of a lot of people on the lookout suspicious ones like us right now." She reminded her boss.

"It will be fine, they won't be searching rooftop this high, they literally can't without fly, so we just play the waiting game." Clementine sat down pulling her hood up.

"Hey..." Zesshi had something on her mind.

"Yeah?" She looked over at the half-elf.

"Why didn't you kill that ninja girl last night? leaving survivors wasn't your thing before." Clementine just frowned and began to feel sick.

"She just looked like someone I knew a long time ago, not an uncanny resemblance, just...anyway I just didn't feel like killing someone who was already beaten is all." Zesshi knew this was a lie, when Clementine pulled the ninja girls mask off there had been a slight look of recognition but that soon turned to disgust, whatever she had been through had done more than just instill loyalty in here, she was clearly suffering mental trauma from her time in "the bug room" Zesshi shuddered at the thought of what that could be.

"So you said we'll be "moving on" but where to exactly?" She asked. Zesshi's expression changed.

"We gotta meet up with some people from Nazarick at The Holy Kingdom," Zesshi explained leaning up against a crack to get some rest, Clementine did the same.

Solution stood next to Shizu as a girl in green armor and donning a red scarf bowed announced herself then ran closer.

"I am Neia Baraja! Head of His Majesty's, Lord Ainz Ooal Gown The Sorcerer Kings church here in the Holy Kingdom!" She said bowing with such deep respect...

"Then why does she stare at me with such hate-filled eyes?" Solution wondered, was she just acting nice in front of Shizu? She would have to get this woman alone to gauge her real attitude! Solution purposely didn't give Neia her name to see how she would take the 'accidental slight'.

"So, Neia, what's it like preaching about His Majesty Lord Ainz to the...masses?" Solution asked interrupting was Neia was about to say next, Neia, who was in mid-sentence stopped and smiled.

"OH! It's the best! His Majesty has over 5,000 followers here in The Holy Kingdom alone! They come every day to hear about his wisdom and great deeds that he performed here in the Holy Land, many of us thank him every day for his guidance! We were like blind children stumbling in the dark near a cliff until His Majesty Pulled us away from death and set us on the correct coarse, I personally..." the girl broke into near-fanatical talk as she regaled them about her efforts to spread the word of His Majesty and how she would surely have been killed and be with her parents if not for 'Lord Ainz', her words seemed so chosen but also she had real meaning behind them, was she just going off on a pre-written lecture, or was she just this genuinely interested in Lord Ainz? Neia seemed to realize that she had not stopped talking for some time and smiled and apologized, she really didn't need to, however.

She led them to the balcony that overlooked the city in the Holy Kingdom, from this position you could see down the two main streets that made up the majority of travel through this are, it was situated above the market place, so that as the people did their daily chores and shopping, they may yet know more about The Sorcerer king and how wonderful it is to know of his brilliance... The girl certainly wasn't dumb, she picked the best spot in the city to preach from, but is she just doing this to elevate her own status? Surely this human is merely using the name of her lord to further raise her own status! Yes! that must be it! Solution smiled. She would find evidence of this woman's treachery this "Holy Pope", as it were. Her words were nice, but Solution would not be fooled as her innocent and gullible little sister Shizu had been.

"It's a shame I have already given this evening's speech, but the shops are all but closed now..." Neia said with a frown, although she was known to still preach about His majesty at any and all hours if anyone would stop to listen, even just one person willing to hear about his majesty was enough to make Neia stand there and tell him about how lucky he is! Once she just preached only to a passing cat that was walking the streets late at night, maybe some people would have thought that was overkill. But that cat now shows up every night to hear Neia talk," another true believer reached!" Neia said proudly, even if it is just a cat. "Is this woman insane? or just that devoted to Lord Ainz?" Solution asked as the tour continued downstairs.

"And uh... How have you been since His Majesty has left your lands?" Solution asked with a smile. Neia's whole demeanor changed and she stopped walking.

"Lord Ainz has yet to return... all I can do is wait until Lord Ainz wishes to come back to us." She said clutching her necklace that hung around her neck.

"Lord Ainz?" She assumed it was a slip-up and forgave her the first time she had used such a familiar tone, for Shizu's sake.

"You dare to use a familiar term he granted US only to use?!" Solution's anger flared up, this was IT! She had found a measure of disrespect that...

"Solution, stop! Lord Ainz gave her personal permission to address him as such." Shizu said in a flat voice, not looking away from the direction they were walking. "WHAT?" Did he show such respect to a human?

"You're not acting very cute..." Shizu said. This broke Solution!

"Shizu... I..." Solution tried to apologize but they entered into a room where some people were waiting. It was the various people that had been appointed to Neia, she could direct them as she saw fit and they would listen. Solution took notice of these 'helpers' not a single one seemed 'untrained' or' unfit' even though they were just doing office work they all had a body structure that suggested rigorous physical training. they were all "in shape". Not a "flabby body" in this whole room!

"I see you like men who are in shape." Solution coyly mentioned, she had peered into a little perversion this "Pope" had! But Neia just laughed in an unembarrassed way.

"Oh no! Nothing like THAT." She giggled.

"No, to work for His Majesty's goal of a unified land, one must strive to purge all forms of weakness from one's body, while no matter what we weak humans do, we will remain weak, however, it should be one's personal goal to strive for the peak of power your position is able to achieve. weakness is a sin after all!" Neia said pointing up as she always would when saying that particular line. Solution just looked at her. For a human... she certainly knew her place after all. Could she genuinely love their lord... possibly as much as the ones he helped create? When the people saw Neia enter they lit up and wove at her and cried out...

"MIS MAJESTY IS JUSTICE!" to which she wove back and returned the call of...

"HIS MAJESTY IS JUSTICE!" Everyone smiled and laughed a bit before getting on with their work.

"Sorry, that's just how we like to greet one another around here!" She said in a chipper voice that did not match the slight glances of malice Solution was sure she was catching whenever Neia looked at her.

"See Solution? Neia is cute!" Shizu said hugging her friend's arm Niea returned her hug and affectionately leaned her head on Shizu's shoulder. Solution inwardly pouted "Shizu has never hugged my arm like that..."

"Shizu has never hugged me...ever!" Solution said inwardly shocked, just realizing this starling and quickly frankly, disturbing fact! Solution walked up to the other side of Shizu and moved a tad closer than she maybe should have been, she wanted to know what it was like to have Shizu hang off her like a proper big sister! But...

Niea turned to look at Solution and gave her a hate-filled glare, even though she tried to hide it behind a genuinely nice smile, her eyes spoke how she felt about Solution. "I see, her love for Lord Ainz seems to be real, but she must hate ME personally... does she see me as a threat to her friendship with Shizu? Is she THAT petty?" Solution thought while frowning again as Neia turned back to Shizu to continue their dialogue.

They were led outside, it was dusk now and would soon be dark. Just then Neia stopped, she had something on her mind.

"Do uh, either of you know when Lord Ainz might be coming back?" There was a hint to her voice like she was trying not to cry. Shizu shook her head 'no'.

"Lord Ainz does everything when he sees fit... wait until he sees fit to visit your... country again." Solution scoffed, at this point, she even felt she was forcing her "bad attitude" but she really wanted to see this... 'Neia' when her eyes matched up with her words. Neia ignored the provocation tone as she looked curiously at Shizu who had broken away from the group and was looking for something.

"Shizu? What are you looking for?" Neia called out to her best friend. Shizu stopped what she was doing and said in a plain tone.

"Neia said there was a cute cat here..." C9 answered as she returned to her search of this 'cat that loves Ainz so must be cute'. She decided this cat had earned a coveted 1 yen sticker! Solution and Niea watched her look for this cat in silence and admiration.

"So now that you are here, what did you wanna see? Although it's late so..." Neia began but Cz shook her head.

"I just came to see you Neia, nothing else is cute in this place." The robot said in her most happy tone, which was still monotone in nature. But she backed it up with a small 'thumbs up'. Solution rolled her eyes but was actually jealous that Neia was getting called "cute" so much.

"Well if that's the case then we could wander the streets, I could show you the city at night, or we could just go inside and talk some more?" Neia suggested. Then her eye sprang up in an "OH!" look.

"The church, of coarse!" She exclaimed. The maids looked at one another puzzled.

"We just finished up The Holy Church of Ainz Ooal Gown! It'd be great to get your thoughts on the place. Solution was genuinely interested to see this so nodded and allowed Neia to take them to the church. Upon entering the front it was done very nice but not to the point of gaudy, the walls were either black or dark purple with gold ropes hanging to one end of the other. See-through veils that felt like spider webs that did not cling to you when passing under them. After walking down the hall there were some collection plates set out for ' and moderate donations'. They passed those and finally were in the main hall.

"Ah! Here we go Neia said with pride. At the sight of the statue of Ainz. He was standing over a large burning fire that would burn forever magically. there were two people in attendance to keep an eye on the collection plates and keep the church in a well maintained and presentable state. Solution looked around, she rather approved of the decor and atmosphere, it was respectful without being too biased. The statue especially pleased her as it was fully colored so as to not boast of the material used to make it, it was greatness hidden behind beauty, much like Ainz himself, Solution was impressed.

"This statue was my idea and design!" Neia boasted.

"It's okay..." The solution decided at last. Shizu looked up at it carefully then walked up and put a 1 yen sticker on it. Steel of joy came from Neia's direction.

"It is a cute statue," Shizu said nodding in satisfaction, Neia once again showed signs of glee at the approval of her passion. Neia then motioned down either hall where there were stalls one could kneel at or ask for guidance or to just offer thanks for the liberation from the demihuman horde. The nobles threw a fit when we had this built, but the funding I asked for was granted surprisingly easy so." She explained with no small amount of pride in her work.

"So will his majesty approves of this do you think?" Neia asked with hope in her eyes. Solution nodded honestly, indeed it was a suitable place to house an image of Lord Ainz Ooal Gown. When she looked up at the statue she still had that glare... "is that... is that just the way she looks?" Solution asked herself shocked... had she been misinterpreting her looks until now? She felt a little embarrassed that this might have been the case, that she had been intentionally rude to her little sister's friend and fellow followers of The Sorcerer king for no real reason. Solution had to say something but Shizu spoke up first.

"I still want to look for the cat... wait here you two." And with that, she walked back the way they had come. Leaving solution and Neia together in awkward silence till Neia spoke up.

"So... um I've asked Shizu this but, do...have you heard His majesty, mention me at all?" Neia asked timidly. Solution answer bluntly but truthfully.

"I've actually never heard him mention you even once." The look of hope was dashed from Neias face as she returned to a solemn expression, a bit sad. "that was mean..." She thought...

"But uh, I'm not Lord Ainzes attendant, so I'm not in his presence enough to hear such... talk. So he may have to someone else..." Solution said, trying to be nice for the first time since coming to The Holy Kingdom. While Neia seemed a bit better, it wasn't the answer she was looking for obviously. After a bit, Neia spoke again.

"What... what is Nazarick like? I've heard tales... and Shizu said I should 'work for it' but I feel I will never see it..." Neia said slowly and in thought. Solution decided this was a good chance to be nice and just explained what the "fake Nazarick" looks like as that was most likely the one she would be visiting if any... but the way Neia hung off every way Solution said made her see why Shizu may like her so much.

"Shizu is taking awhile... we should check up on her." Solution finally said getting nervous, while no enemies in The Holy Kingdom presented himself, as of late Nazarick and its allies seemed to be getting 'a lot of attention from buzzing flies'. A fellow member of The Pleiades had said recently. When they set foot outside there wasn't a single person on the street, it was late butt his still felt a but odd, while not showing any signs of worry, Solution kept an eye out for any trouble that may be lurking. soon after she noticed a person trying to "keep out of sight" but also clearly following them.

"SHIZUUUUU?" Neia called out. Solution winced, she wished this girl would not yell, yet at the same time, she was nervous that C9 wasn't responding either.

"What?" A calm voice asked coming from behind them. Neia yelped but then laughed as she confirmed her friend was safe, and that she had found the cat.

"Nothing, we were just looking for you," Neia explained, the robot maid nodded then produced the cat.

"Found the cute cat... he hasn't been fed in while..." Shizu said in an emotionless voice. Neia laughed.

"Well I know a place that stays open late, we can get this little guy some food!" Neia told Shizu. Solution looked at the miserable creature, she was by no means a "cat person". She wished Shizu would just leave that thing alone, but they took it to the place Neia mentioned, the whole time their "tail" followed them in silence.

"See? I told you he'd rather have the beef than the fish!" Neia cried in victory, they had each ordered some food for the cat to see which it would prefer and Neia's was chosen over the fish and milk. It purred happily as it ate the food, Solution was too distracted by the person keeping up on their group to care what the cat ate.

"Say Neia, do you have anyone that might be following you? like a bodyguard or a boy in love?" Solution asked. Neia looked shocked, a slight unhappy robot noise was heard. Solution looked at Shizu.

"Watch her." Solution said as she got up and vanished against a wall.


	11. The size of things

"Hey Test, you hear me?" Aura asked as she cast [MESSAGE].

"Yes." The voice in her head answered.

"Hey, so what's going on? You uh, doing okay?" Aura wanted to know what he had planned with the new army he had.

"I am fine. I have an army at my disposal and the ones here refer to me as "Master", even though I tell them my name is Test, other than that it's fine here." His voice was as bored sounding as ever.

"What do you plan on doing with your army?" She asked, a little more than just curious.

"I don't really have any at the moment... I guess if you guys need me just let me know, I'll be here waiting till then."Aura shrugged and turned to her team.

"He says he'll help us, I think we can basically chalk this up as our army." She said giving her trademark "V for victory". Everyone seemed satisfied.

"So how strong do you think the army is that he will send us?" Albedo asked, prepared to do some calculations in her head.

"How strong are you guys?"She Asked.

"Half my strength, my servant says they are each something called "level 25." Aura was shocked.

"Wait... that means you're level 50? But you were so weak when you hit my hand!" She exclaimed.

"Yes, I imagine it would have been a weak hit as I am a litch, or rather, a magic-user." Aura scoffed.

"Then why were you decked out head to toe in physical damage and assassin gear? Nothing you wore would help with magic at all." She had to recast [MESSAGE] to hear his reply.

"I came upon them in an underground treasury, the one where we would be trapped in that weird room who has my brother. They were very nice clothes, as you said, so I put them on." She shook her head at the voice, well no matter...

"We have 800,000 level 25 undead at our command!" She announced to Albedo. Albedo seemed pleased.

"Okay let's keep a move on to see what else we can find for father!" Pandora's Actor said taking the form of the goatman once again.

"This whole area is weird right?" I mean this is all one big flat tunnel, it was made not formed Kali said running her hand along the walls and looking up at the pictures carved into the wall, they had been walking over a mile and the depictions of deeds by people on the walls still continued.

"Getting warmer, you all feel this yeah?" Hejinmal asked out loud to the group. They nodded, they have gone so far down that hitting magma chambers wouldn't be weird, but the lack of toxic gas and the availability of oxygen meant that was probably not the case, the heat might be something else. The hallway they walked opened up into a big square room, there were three different ways to go, two led down, one led up.

"Time to split the party?" Hejinmal asked. Shivers ran through the group, this was never a good idea. Pandora's Actor cast [MESSAGE} again to Test asking him for 500 or so stealth and fighter units, he agreed and after a [GATE] cast they arrived in short order.

"Alright um... Test? Tests? I guess it doesn't matter, just have twenty 250 go this way, the other 250 go that way and we'll go the last way." He said motioning to the one that looked to go down the furthest from this vantage point.

"Just keep splitting up when you come to a choice like this, and if you are attacked or find something nice, be sure to let us know." Pandora's Actor said bowing in thanks. The small battalion of undead soldiers all nodded in unison and began their own trek.

"Good idea stepson!" Albedo said patting his shoulder. He turned to look at her in confusion.

"Hold a minute you slut! You can't refer to Lord Ainzes heir like that, besides I'M his FUTURE mother!" Shalltear flared and swung her lance at Albedo.

"Like hell! Why would he want a stepmother who finds him annoying?" Albedo said with a smug look, a shocked look replaced Shalltears anger and she waved her hands at Pandora's Actor frantically.

"Don't believe her, our one day king! I have learned to love his unique personality! Nobody has such passion when he speaks, he'll obviously call me mother one day! You're the one who f..." Shalltear spat, this argument was a long time coming the both figured. Pandora's Actor had no idea what to say, usually, Cocytus would break them up by now, but he was not here. Albedo walked face to face to Shalltear.

"It's so obvious I'd make the better mom than you! I literally have levels in homemaker you tramp! I can knit him all kinds of clothes and repair his coat or hat for him, what would you be able to offer our master's son as a mother?" Shalltear thought for a second then sneered.

"I'd have more advice for him then some... virgin would!" Shalltear yelled pointing at Albedo. The one wearing black armor took a step back, everyone including the 500 soldiers were all staring at Albedo in silence, not a sound was made in this underground cavern. Shalltear crossed her arms in victory, getting personal and petty was her trademark move. The group looked at Aura to step in, she was the only one here that could stop this but she was.. gone? She was hiding behind Hejinmal's massive form so she could avoid getting involved. Albedo could get petty as well.

"Flat Chested whore!" She smirked expecting a reaction from Shalltear, but Shalltear just gave a smug smile back and replaced her armor with her casual dress, and indeed her chest was filled out, as well as Albedos was. Albedo was not impressed.

"Some bra stuffing is not..." Albedo said shaking her head but was cut off by a confident-sounding Shalltear.

"Touch them!"

"What!?" Albedo looked shocked and confused at the sudden request.

"Touch them and tell me these are fake!" Shalltear challenged, taken aback Albedo looked at her group they were all in silent shock, Nissa was covering Mare's eyes. Shalltear did a few jumps and her chest bounced the way a normal girls with that endowment would. Suspiciously Albedo poked her rival's chest and was surprised by how real they felt.

"You... you would dare change the body your maker gave you? What did you use, magic?" Albedo asked now becoming irritated that she had lost this advantage over Shalltear. Shalltear shook her head.

"Nope... this is all-natural! Flat Chested Shalltear is a thing of the past!" She announced thrusting her chest out as she wore her tight-fitting black and red dress toward her group, they were still in shock or just choose not to speak. This had started as an argument about motherhood and escalated to childish name-calling and now... this. Albedo simply turned and walked in the direction of the stairs Pandora's Actor had pointed at, everyone else did the same without saying a word more. Secretly Shalltear was thanking her friend Solution for providing more... realistic stuffing for her chest that would not become misshapen when she ran or moved around, she gave her rack a nice pat before changing back to her red armor and heading down with the rest of the group.

Hours of silent and eventless travel eventually gave birth to a large underground river that was rushing very fast, however, there was already a well made and sturdy bridge crossing it, it looked very old and was covered with marking and pictures similar to the hallways. They crossed but kept their guard up, the bridge spanned probably half a mile (under a kilometer) and was supported by huge stone bases that the rushing water ran around. Aura, Mare, Wins, Kali, Nissa and Pe Riyuro on the back of Hejinmal were the first to cross as they flew. Upon crossing the bridge their pathway turned and spiraled down into nicely carved stairs, and the walls of the staircase still etched with amazing pictures of stories or events. The staircase was still huge however, easily five or six Hejinmal's, but as walking was still safer in this spiraling descending staircase he did just that.

"Wait..." Pe Riyuro said suddenly, everyone halted and looked at him, he jumped off the back of the dragon and put his head to the wall. Then suddenly jumped away in fright.

"Get back now!" He warned but just as he said that the walls exploded and four huge fleshy serpents burst out of the wall, these were the same thing Albedo and Shalltear killed when they began this venture, but they struck out at Hejinmal who instinctively reared back and jumped but the elves on his back were also flung off his back and sent tumbling painfully down the stairwell. One of the snake-like monsters managed to chomp down onto Hejinmal, as soon as he had a death grip on the dragon, it quickly pulled him into the hole it had burst from, a terrified scream was all Hejinmal could let out as he was pulled into the darkness. while still on her back Aura lashed out with her whip and wrapped it around the very tip of Hejinmal's tail just as it vanished into the wall, but as she did so, Aura was also snatched into the air and pulled into the same hole as her dragon had been.

"Sister!" Mare cried out and tried to cast something but she was gone by the time his hands were raised. Three more of those monsters shot out at the elf slaves that were screaming in panic, Albedo used a skill to force one of them to attack her instead. She let it grab her and was willingly dragged into the hole this thing had made, attempting to back up Aura as it was assumed these things all came from the same creature. A [FIREBALL] spell cooked two of the creatures alive after that. The team ran to the holes the creatures had burst from but there was nothing left but a trail of dragon's blood. Shalltear dove into the same giant hole that Albedo had been drug into. Mare crawled into the hole Aura and Hejinmal went down and called out to his slaves.

"Wait here, I'll come back for you three when it's safe!" He ordered and jumped down to help his sister. Pandora's Actor ran right after Shalltear. Pe Riyuro tended to the scared elf slaves telling them it would be okay and to run if he said he heard anything more from the walls.

"Hang on Hejinmal, I'm here with you!" Aura called out to her dragon, he was in pain and not saying anything, he was probably paralyzed by some kind of skill or that things saliva. She pulled herself closer along her whip ignoring the pain she felt when she would be flung hard into a wall and bounce off it. Aura eventually got up to his tail and grabbed on to it. The speed at which he was getting yanked at was incredible, she could hang on but it was hard, she let out a vapor trail from her mouth and nose that would increase the speed of Mare who was behind her, and who would run into the vapor. Even if he was using [FLY] he was not as fast as thing was.

Shalltear flew at her full speed so she was able to catch up with Albedo in short order and after a few minutes of frantic travel like this, a dragged Albedo and Shalltear exited into another vast underground opening. To her right, she made out the forms of Hejinmal, Aura and a trailing Mare. In Front of her was what commanded these snakes. As soon as she saw this she used a lance strike to destroy the snake that held Albedo and grabbed her carrying her toward the dragon that was getting pulled toward the thing she just saw.

"Aura you can't let him get pulled, try to free your dragon!" Shalltear screamed, she saw that Aura had not noticed the peril they were in. But it was a good enough idea so she instantly pulled out her bow and after firing three shots into its face it lost its strength and died, letting go of Hejinmal who fell straight down, he was not conscious and Aura was pulled with him. But she reversed her summons form earlier sending Hejinmal back to where she had first summoned him as he read days before. After which she activated her [FLY] amulet and then saw what she had just escaped getting pulled into. Mare came up behind her and grabbed onto her with a frightened but happy hug, then his eye went wide as he too saw what everyone was looking at.

Huge was not a fitting word, gargantuan was even not enough to describe the sheer size of the creature that waited below. The fourth-floor guardian Gargantua would be able to sit upon this thing and ride it, he would look like a small child on the back of an ancient snake. But what lay below them was no snake.

"What is that?" Pandora's Actor gasped out, now catching up to the group. He was in the form of Ulbert Alain Odle so his shocked cry sounded like a goat in distress. The monster's body was so massive that it's body heat was so hot that just standing this close was enough to cause constant fire damage. It lay along the bottom of the trench like a vast unmoving snake it's massive form filling up the area at the very bottom. Huge ripples would run down its velvet black and purple skin the size of giant waves one would see in the ocean, what they saw was just a segment as the creature ran for both directions as far as anyone could see. Every couple of miles or so there would be a large opening where the snake-like creatures that attacked them would protrude from, masses of them would wriggle out and burrow into the earth grabbing anything they could and bringing it back here to feed this huge monster. The team assembled together still not believing what they saw.

"Something so big... how... is this even possible?" Albedo wondered out loud.

"This thing must feed on the entire world we live upon, anything that goes below a certain depths will inevitably be found and devoured." Aura said agasp.

"I bet you would find this thing at the bottom of the ocean's trenches as well... this thing is probably the great barrier that has kept anything from venturing too low into the earth... it could wrap around the earth many times over... and probably does! What we see now is probably not even 1% of 1% of this thing full form." Pandora's Actor informed the group. They suddenly felt very small. As they saw snake after snake bringing in the undead troops that they had sent to search into the openings and disappear forever into its body.

"Well, I guess no matter where we went, we would have eventually run into this... so far as we kept going down," Shalltear said wondering if they could even kill this thing shaking her head in disbelief. They sat in silence as they watched this thing repeat the motions of feeding over and over again whenever a snake would come back to be delivered.

"Well, I do believe we found the proverbial wall to this adventure... Now would be the time for all of us to return to Nazarick and report what has happened, if we want to explore deeper, or just in general, without harassment of this thing... We need to have a plan." Albedo said, they all nodded, returned carefully the way they came and used [GATE] so all could return to Nazarick and tell Ainz Ooal Gown what they have found. He was waiting for them as they approached.

"So how did it go you all?" Ainz said upon seeing them walk into the throne room, after pleasantries were finished they got right down to it and told him of everything that had happened.

"I see, I will have to meet with this Test fellow to see what he wants to do moving forward... and as for this creature you found..." Ainz said turning serious.

"This is a problem... even if killing it was possible, could killing this thing severely affect this world's functions? For all, we know this thing provides a valuable service so that this world can keep existing... amazing!" He was genuinely interested in the news of the massive world slug they found. After more silent pondering he spoke up.

"Okay, I've decided to let this particular sleeping dog lay, as for this undead army you found me... we'll let it be as it, I will travel to talk with this undead to find out what he knows and what he wants, if it's as you say he seems like he will be very agreeable to any plan we put forth to him. On top of that, his crypt that he commands will be a good forward operating base if we ever feel the need to kill this giant earth slug, but until such a need arises, I declare this venture successful and competed!" He said raising his arms in praise, the entire group bowed and smiled to themselves, personal praise from Ainz was the reward they had all hoped they would receive for a job well done.

After he congratulated them some more and dismissed himself they each went their separate ways to unwind from travel. Pandora's Actor returned immediately to the vault to return his borrowed gear, thanking the statues of the supreme ones for lending him their strength and abilities. The elves decided they were filthy so they agreed to all bathe together and left the group. Albedo announced she would return to Ainzes side after cleaning as well. Shalltear retired to her own house and summoned all her Vampire bride to attend to her needs.

"So that's what our first venture into the chasm has revealed," Ainz told Demiurge filling him in on the whole quest later on that night. While Demiurge agreed this was something worth investigating in the future, for now, the issue of the vanishing guild store was more important.

The location of this store with Yggdrasil gear for sale in it could now be anywhere, so they asked Nigredo if she could look for it, they were not expecting her to simply get lucky, but it was just one way of searching for this. As time passed, evidence of this store's location would slowly begin to spring up as the weak could become strong, for an affordable price. Until such evidence arose to narrow down the search, they would just hope no enemies lay claim to it first.


	12. INTERMISSION

The Holy Kingdom after dark fell silent, this area traditionally did not have a vibrant nightlife. One restaurant that was favored by many for staying up all night was host to strange guests, two demon maids a religious figurehead and a cat. Solution had been aware of their parties tail for some time and decided to check it out, it did not seem to be a threat at least. She excused herself and used her slime body to melt silently into the wall. When she emerged from the other side of the store she walked a roundabout way to effectively sneak up behind the person that was sneaking behind their group. It was a woman in a maks and a dark cloak, she recognized this as the latest "secret agent" of Nazarick, someone who could do operations that would not tie back to Ainz Ooal Gown.

"Clementine?" Solution called out the woman in the cloak turned around and removed her mask. Showing that it was who Solution had just called out to.

"Yes, um I wasn't told you would be with a human, so I stayed back." Solution was a little impressed, that was smart.

"Yes it's fine, she is just a friend of Shizu's, anyway your business is with me anyway." The blonde maid said walking farther back so they would have total privacy.

"I assume the black and white-haired one that calls Entoma mistress is here as well?" Solution asked looking for Clementines partner Zesshi.

"She is close by but deciding revealing herself was dangerous," Clementine said pointing to a lone figure standing on top of the church of Ainz Ooal Gown some distance away.

"Alright, that's fine." She said nodding. Clementine waited for her orders patiently.

"Alright, as for your orders, there is a woman here in The Holy Kingdom named Garagan, she is a member of The Blue Roses, and she seems to be inquiring about Jaldabaoth."

"Why? He was slain by our Lord was he not?" Clementine asked Solution nodded that she was right.

"Indeed, but she seems to want to know more about him, probably on a personal level as Jaldabaoth had killed her once before."

"I had a run-in with one of The Blue Roses, one of the ninja girls before coming here." Solution looked displeased, that look sent fear running it's way up Clementine's legs.

"Did you kill her?" Solution asked Clementine shook her head "no."

"I just subdued her, killing her... didn't suit me at the time." Solution smiled and nodded once.

"Good. That just makes things easier." Clementine felt better hearing those words, she would do well to remember this lesson.

"Anyway, don't kill Garagan either, we need to find out what she knows and why she is here inquiring personally about Jaldabaoth. Also, your former partner Khajiit has been seen in the south parts, if you see him, find out what he's up to and kill him." Clementine nodded. She never had any attachment to him to begin with.

"I have a question, you said not to kill Garagan, but to learn what she knows..." This heavily implied torture. Solution knew what she was getting at.

"If that's the road you take, then just make sure that you don't overdo it and kill her, and by no means can she learn you work for us. Anything beyond that is fine." Solution pulled a scroll from out her body and handed it to Clementine.

"If you need to contact me directly use this [MESSAGE] scroll." She finished her orders and returned to the restaurant to join Shizu. She smiled as she saw her little sister talking with her human, the two did make a good pair, even Solution had to admit that.

"Oh you are back, is everything okay?" Neia asked when she saw Solution returning. Solution nodded and smiled.

"It was nothing." She said looking at Shizu who was now giving the cat some water.

"Shizu what are you going to do with that thing?" She asked looking at the mangy animal.

"Keeping it," Shizu said petting the cat. Neia giggled and pet the kitty as well.

"I think he is very cute Shizu," Neia said looking at her friends one green eye. Shizu simply nodded. As the three girls talked and played with the new cat, Clementine was making her way back to Zesshi. She told her what the maid had ordered them to do. Zesshi thought for a moment.

"Alright, I overheard that she was seen talking to nobles who do not wish to see this... "church of Ainz Ooal Gown" grow. There is heavy opposition to it in the southern regions of The Holy Kingdom, but the North strongly favors it... this could be a point of contention if the two sides clashed openly." Zesshi said with a matter of fact tone.

"Why is she even involved in politics? As an adventure, she should know better to stay away from things like this." Clem spat, Zesshi just shrugged.

"Probably personal because she came alone, I know she has a history with the Sunlight Scripture, they fought many times in the past... Might stem from her overall mistrust of religions." The half-elf said getting ready to move out. Clementine put her mask back on and followed suit.

"Anyway, travel will be easy until we reach the southern border. So let's get some supplies while in town." They found an Inn and booked a room, in the morning they did light shopping and made their way out of the City and began heading south. Back in the city however Neia was just waking up.

Her room was large, it lead directly out to the balcony that she would give sermons from. Her office was also crammed to the corner of this round room without any corners, other than that and a couch for relaxing on, her room was very bare compared to how spacious it really was. She yawned and gave a stretch before doing her morning routine and getting dressed. She didn't mind that Shizu was on the couch the whole time, the two were close friends dressing in front of her felt normal at this point. When she was done she presented herself to Shizu for evaluation.

"So Shizu? How do I look?" Shizu gave her a thumbs up. Neia was wearing her usual outfit of green armor, red scarf and the visor that Ainz had provided for her. After a light breakfast, she readied her voice for its daily performance. Already down by the shopping center people were gathering, they were getting there early to claim the best spots if you made it here too late you would only get to see a dark speck up on the balcony. The crowd was so large on some days that they would have to wait till she was done talking before merchants could hope to sell anything in the marketplace.

"I'm very happy that you will get to hear me speak finally Shizu." Neia smiled, the maid nodded.

"Neia is very cute when talking about Lord Ainz." She nodded and made her way out, the crowd cheered when they saw Neia take her usual spot and soon she began speaking to her fellow adoring followers of Ainz Ooal Gown. At this time Solution was walking the streets below where Neia was speaking. She was killing time until her sister's friend was done talking, just walking among the crowd that had gathered to listen to her speak. She was on the lookout for anything suspicious, but the whole speech went off without an hour or so late she had finished. After some cheers and cries of love from the crowd, everybody would slowly break up and get on with their day of shopping and the like.

"Wonderful speech Neia!" A follower was congratulating Neia on another rousing speech of the Might and power of Ainz Ooal Gown as Solution was walking up the stairs to rejoin the two woman, and now a cat. Neia bowed and thanked her various followers that all had positive things to say about the morning's sermon.

"By the way Shizu, what are you going to name that cat?" Neia asked kneeling down to pet the cat that was curled up at Shizu's feet. She looked down at the cat puzzled.

"Had not thought to name him... what is a good name for a cat?" The robot asked looking at her cat.

"Whatever name that makes you happy or suits him, he's all black so you could call him "midnight" or something like that." But Shizu shook her head, that name was not cute.

"Hey Shizu, I have a question for you... out of everyone in Nazarick... not counting Lord Ainz of coarse, who do you find the cutest?" Solution asked she had wondered this before and now seemed like a good time to ask. Shizu stopped and thought, while Eclair was up there in her book, he was not "the cutest". But she was still locked in contemplation, both girls now looked at Shizu who was still pondering this important question.

"If it's that hard to decide, forget I said anything." Solution said patting her sister on the head, but soon after Shizu answered.

"Mare... he is very cute," Shizu said nodding, Solution suspected he would be one of her choices.

"Oh? Who is Mare?" Neia asked she had not heard this name before.

"You would probably call him a general or something like that, but he and his sister are very important members of Nazarick and valued counsel to Lord Ainz Ooal Gown." Solution explained, she knew that Neia would get a tour of Nnazarick, or it's copy and would meet the floor guardians so talking about them didn't seem odd as they were the only ones in the room.

"Well if I ever get the honor of meeting such a person, I'll be sure to see why he earned such high praise from Shizu here," Neia said laughing a little at the thought of getting to walk the halls of the place known as Nazarick.

"So is there a lot of opposition to you and this new religion?" Solution asked trying to change the subject. Neia frowned and nodded slowly.

"The southern nobles are throwing a fit, we've even caught people trying to desecrate the images of our Lord who were paid to do so from people they did not know... it's been like this ever since we arose the church." Solution tried to remain calm but asked in a forceful subdued voice.

"These... people who would dare deface the image of our Lord Ainz... are they here by chance?" Solution would love some alone time with these people. But Neia told her they were no longer here.

"When things like this started happening more and more we became serious, we would exile anyone caught defacing his temple or image to the hills the demihumans remained in, I'm told they did last the night," Neia said gravely, Solution was disappointed but at least knew they did not meet a happy end.

"Well Shizu, your day off is over, you should say your goodbyes so we can head back" Solution said, the look of disappointment on Neia's face was obvious but Size hugged her and patted her head.

"It's okay Neia, we will be back soon," Shizu said as they turned to leave and have someone [GATE] them back home.

"I always look forward to a chance to spend time with you Shizu, oh and Lady Solution I am very glad to have met you, please keep my friend here happy!" Neia said giving a warm smile to Solution. The girl had her eye's covered and she seemed much nicer this way Solution thought as she said farewell. A black portal opened up, Neia wove bye even after it had vanished and her friends were gone.

CHAPTER TWELVE: Fallen

Remedios walked down a long well-paved road. To the right, all she could see was rolling green hills with some kind of farm way off in the distance. Looking left was much the same, minus the farm. The smell of grass was overwhelming as this road cut between a flat plain where wandering sheep herds would graze on occasion. The noon sun was beating down on her short brown hair, the heat had already begun to work it's way into her plate armor that she wore, it's silver shiny brilliance looked amazing in the noon sun but felt less so. Coupled with the giant sack she had slung over her back, Remedios was thinking of taking a rest soon, she had been walking all day.

"Goddamn vampire!" She cursed looking up at the sun right above her. Thinking how she had slept only feet away from one of those things not more than a night before.

"Guess I'm lucky to be alive." She scoffed, as she was alone for miles on this open road she only said these things to herself.

"Oh... I wouldn't say that Remedios Custodio." A familiar male voice said behind her. Not sure if she had imagined it she looked over her shoulder, but there was a man standing there, not more than three feet away (about one meter). She quickly turned to face this man but when she saw who it was she could not move. Before Remedios was a thin man in an unmistakable orange pinstripe suit, he had a long metal barbed tail behind him but he was not wearing a mask, instead, he had a human face but wore spectacles over his eyes and had spiked black hair. She immediately dropped her heavy sack and brought her holy sword out pointing it at the demon she hated more than anything.

"How... you are dead! I... I saw it happen!" She cried in angry tears welling up in her eyes. But the demon just smiled and adjusted his spectacles.

"No, what you saw was just one of my servants pretending to be me, but don't feel fooled, that's what I had everyone believing, even the one who "killed" me, the powerful Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown, it was one glorious scheme I hatched so that I could better know the true powers of The Sorcerer King," Jaldabaoth said clapping his hands in admiration. She could not believe he was here, like this talking so casually to her, she would wait for an opening and strike him down, but he continued to talk.

"I never imagined he would come to stop me, I had suspected he would send the one called Momon, as I had pretended to lose to him before, but he must have seen throughout the plan of mine... so I simply proceeded to "plan B", have my most powerful minion pretend to be me when I "transformed" and amass information as he inevitably destroyed my minion and the borrowed demihumans I had, all the while telling me the exact nature of his spells and even how much mana he had which I learned in the first fight in the capital he had with my minion. Remedios clenched her teeth in hate.

"And...why are you telling me all this..." She growled holding back the urge to attack.

"Simple! You will play a large role in my new plan to kill the Sorcerer King and rule The Sorcerer Kingdom! A much better seat of power than that disgusting land you call home." He chuckled and adjusted his gloves a bit. She was shocked to hear he was alive but... suddenly he pulled out a weapon and threw it casually at her feet.

"This is a weapon I created after learning all that I could from The Sorcerer King, it will kill absolutely any undead it strikes dead for real, in a single hit. It is a weapon that I sacrificed my plans for your homeland to forge and it will win me a kingdom more valuable than I could have hoped." She looked down at the weapon.

It looked like a claymore but the blade was so black that it didn't even reflect the noon sun, the handguard was bright gold with six serpents all sticking out their heads in a circular pattern and clutching a powerful looking gem in their mouths of a different color, their bodies then entwined with one another forming one body becoming a slender hilt to hold the blade. A dark and powerful purple aura resonated off the blade, this thing was more powerful than anything Remedios had ever heard of, her holy blade felt like a toothpick compared to the overwhelming power that the blade at her feet gave off.

"Take up that blade, become my demon knight and strike down The Sorcerer King in my name! Do this and you will be awarded your sister and Queen back to human life as if nothing had happened to them." He said clapping his hands once to show he was done making his sales pitch, he simply smiled and waited for her answer. Her eyes were locked onto the awesome weapon before her.

"And before you think to pick that sword up and turn it on me, it won't work, that weapon is made with my own essence as it's core, not only will it not hurt me, it will allow me to use you as a common tool once you touch it. Yet nothing that is evil could ever hope to fight you, for it will also give you complete immunity to any attacks that monster could perform, you will be a tailor-made assassin, and you will help me sit on his throne of power once you do so, so let's put our old differences aside and team up? I've already resurrected your sister and friend, all you need do is pick up that blade, and become my fallen paladin!" Jaldabaoth said with a glorious laugh.

"You honestly think I would help a disgusting demon like you?" She cried as she charged at him with her holy sword, she knew the outcome of this fight but she would rather die than be used as a tool. But he simply stood there smiling.

"PICK UP MY SWORD!" He commanded, and just like that, her body stopped it's charge at the demon. She dropped her holy blade and no matter the orders she screamed at her body from her brain they ignored her pleas and kept on doing as he had ordered her. Remedios leaned down and picked up the black and gold blade, a rush of dark energy enveloped her as her soul was instantly corrupted and tainted his the essence of Jaldabaoth. Her eyes became sparkling white gems as she surged with demonic and tainted holy power.

"I had hoped you would willingly be my knight, but this is just as well," Demiurge said smiling and walking over to his new slave. She simply stood there staring at the blade in her hands, the arm that held it turned black with evil energy, it's taint stopped at her right shoulder.

"This weapon... I could even kill you with it, couldn't I?" She asked in a low voice, he laughed.

"Yes, as it is my will and power, it would very much work on me, why? Thinking of attacking me?" Demiurge asked. Remedios shook her head not looking away from the blade, she held it up and gave it a single test swing toward the open grass field, a wave of death and power shot out of the swing, and in a cone shape, 25 feet in front of her all the grass wilted and died.

"Good, now so long as you have that blade on you I can contact you directly, until then would you kindly proceed like you were before any of this happened?" He gave a loud clap and suddenly...

"Guess I'm lucky to be alive... with some vampire sleeping next to me." She thought about the night before. She held no memory of what had just happened, she did not think it odd that her holy sword was replaced with one of darkness and evil, she just kept on her travels as she had planned on doing, unaware of the torment that the road she walked down held in store for her. A road that Demiurge had sent her down as a fun little game of his. Remedios didn't know why but she decided to walk to the Holy City in the Slane Theocracy.


	13. Hard choices. Harder consequences.

Evileye sat at the back of the tavern of this small town in the Slane Theocracies land. It was plain as any bar would be in such a small town, but this is where they decided they would wait for their imposters. The rest of the group had cloaks around their heads and body to disguise who they were, and after some friendly questioning it was found that "The Blue Roses" frequently sold and bought wares at this little hamlet.

"It's a good chance our imposters do not know that their hideout is gone, and the more I think about it, the less it seems they would even own a place like that, with the ability to just teleport around... so if they come back to this place to rest or resupply before heading into the forest, or coming here after discovering it's gone..." Lakyus explained why they were laying low in such a place.

"This would be a good place to catch them, so what do we do if we get lucky and they show up? Risking the lives of these people isn't a good idea." Evileye stated as a matter of fact.

"Well our imposters have never killed a single person they rob that we know of... so maybe they too will not want to fight here, could be willing to "go someplace quiet"..." Tina said, Tia just nodded in agreement.

"I'd prefer to launch a surprise attack, any damage we cause we can repay, and as for..." Lakyus was saying when they heard a screech of a hawk, it was the one sent to fly around the outskirts of the town, and it was told to alarm them if a group that looked like theirs was spotted.

"No way, already?" Evileye said noting the direction the alarm came from.

"They are still a mile or two away, we have time to catch them outside of town if we go now," Tia said, but they were already moving for the door, this was just something worth mentioning. As the town was small they were at the edge of it in less than ten minutes, and off into the distance, they saw a caravan. Escorting it was a group that looked very similar to The Blue Roses, no on closer inspection it was obvious they were the only ones with the three wagons, this was their latest haul as highway bandits. The real Blue Roses got into position before the approaching wagons could see them. The ninja twins vanished and took up flanking positions behind some bushes and a large tree that were off to the side of the dirt road. Evileye crouched down behind a small mound of dirt that ran alongside the dirt road leading to town, totally hidden.

"I will be here and act like a beggar," Lakyus announced pulling her cloak over her head to conceal everything she could, she took up her position on the side of the road as a beggar would. The time of day was almost evening, in another hour or so it would be dark, this was the best time to spring an ambush Evileye thought to herself. Twenty minutes later the three carriages with the fake Blue Roses was in range.

The first carriage was being driven by a woman wearing expensive-looking armor of red and silver. She had blonde hair and had fashioned it in the same way Lakyus was known to wear her hair. A giant blade that had the etchings of water on it was at her side. The second cart had no driver or horses but was tied to the cart ahead of it, to its side walked a very large individual. He had red armor that looked exactly like Garagans, even had breasts molded to the front of the plate armor. A red helmet hid the head of this person but the giant war pick he had in his hands looked menacing and powerful. The last cart was driven by a small girl wrapped in a red cloak wearing a plain white mask that had two slits in it to see out of.

Lakyus, who was still a little ways ahead of the first carriage, rattled her cup that had a few coppers placed into it already to signal it was time. As soon as the wagons passed the mound that Evileye was ducking behind she leaped out and got behind the three carts. With Lakyus, up ahead, walking into position, the twins on either side of the road and now Evileye behind them, The Blue Roses had completely surrounded the imposter team. Evileye noted all the members except the fake Tina and Tia, she would have to deal with their counter-attack if the real twins did not do their job.

[SCATTER BUCKSHOT] Evileye launched a surprise attack against the biggest target, the fake Garagan from behind, she infused this attack with her negative energy passive, this combined effect would stun the warrior long enough for a clean follow up attack of [CRYSTAL DAGGER] an attack that was made especially to penetrate high defences. The combo attack worked and after a barrage of crystal stones to the back and a penetrating crystal blade found it's way past the armor and into the back of the large man who screamed in pain as it exploded, there was a fair chance he was dead.

[SMOKE BOMB] was cast from one of the twins to conceal Evileye as she fell back and used [INVISIBILITY] to vanish from sight.

"We're under attack!" The fake Lakyus yelled as the red armored man who was walking beside the cart fell face first, his red armor torn to shreds. But as they turned to face their attacker all they saw was a large patch of red smoke. One of the invisible fake ninja twins from dove into the smoke in an attempt to see where the caster had gone, but this was the biggest mistake only a rookie would make, as soon as she enters the smoke her eyes hurt and began to tear up, breathing became hazardous and she coughed wildly falling to the ground, dropping her invisibility skill. Had she not been wearing a ninja mask, she would have been rendered unconscious there on the spot. However, this left her wide open for Tia's sneak attack of two thrown daggers. The first dagger would shatter into countless sharp ice shards and the dagger that followed would detonate with painful fire damage. The sneak attacks found their mark and another member of the fake Blue Roses fell in an explosion of ice and fire.

"Got you!" Yelled the woman pretending to be Lakyus, she swung her blade at the exposed Tia's direction. Even though she was several feet away from her, the attack unleashed from it's blade sounded like a wave crashing on the beach as a huge wave of water blasted the whole area in front of her. Tia was caught by a torrent of water that sent her reeling and hitting face-first to the tree she had just leaped from. Tia's slender body bounced hard off the tree and lay flat very far away barely moving at all. The fake Evileye avoided this wave of water by casting [FLY] and ascending straight up into the air.

"Little bitch!" The Fake Lakyus cried in victory but it was short-lived as a series of dark energy explosions caught her off guard. The real Lakyus was standing in the center of the road and had destroyed all three carts as well as hit her fake from behind with her signature [DARK BLADE MEGA IMPACT] the explosion sent her imposter and the already defeated body of the fake Garagan flying through the air.

"Nice attack." A voice behind Lakyus said, and before she could turn to see who had complimented her, she felt two cold blades enter her back and shoulder. The sharp pain was followed up by a lightning bolt that ran its way through her body. One of the fake ninja twins had been standing behind Lakyus the whole time as soon as she stopped shaking her copper filled cup. With a final strike to the back of her head, Lakyus fell to the ground unconscious.

"Where did the caster go?" The ninja yelled out to her last standing teammate, the Evileye imposter. But she was in the air using [FLY] and was finishing her cast of [BLADE STORM] a third-tier spell that sent over 200 shards of razor-sharp metal in any direction she chose, 100 of the blades scattered around her in a sphere wounding and revealing an invisible Tina who was making a move for the fake Evileye. The other 100 blades flew at the unconscious form of Tia. A well-timed [CRYSTAL WALL] by Evileye saved the life of her friend but revealed her position in doing so as her [INVISIBILITY] was broken.

"Aaahhh!" Tina cried out in pain as one of the blades had found its way into her right eye, she fell to the ground covered in blades and blood, screaming in pain. Evileye was just about to fire off another barrage of spells at the one who looked like her when a round object stuck her chest and a puff of blue smoke shot from it. As Evileye was immune to most status effects this did not do more than interrupt her cast as she lost track of her target. She was enveloped in blue smoke, but this was another rookie mistake as she was free to hide herself again using her second cast of [INVISIBILITY].

"Back me up!" The ninja that had taken out Lakyus yelled at the imposter Evileye. Soon as she asked for help metal blades formed around her and attached themselves to her body making an impressive looking magical suit of spiked armor. A similar suit of armor was attaching itself to the fake Evileye as well as her spell [METAL BLADE SUIT] finished. The real Evileye used this time to land next to the wounded Tina and casting a second [CRYSTAL WALL] so the two of them could enjoy some cover.

"Looks like it's two on two!" A mocking voice called out from behind her mask as the fake Evileye flew over to meet up with her partner, the remaining ninja. Evileye ignored the taunt as she poured a healing potion over Tina's wounded body.

"Tina... can you get away and get behind the wall I made for your sister?" Evileye asked, the hurt ninja was now feeling better but was still blind out of one eye was still badly hurt. Tina nodded as she knew what Evileye was planning. Using her last skill Tina turned herself invisible and dashed to meet up with her unconscious sister. The enemy Blue Roses did not notice this but assumed they were using this cover to cast spells of that nature. Another barrage of metal blades shredded the area in blind fire, but as luck would have it not a single one hit the fleeing Tina.

"Come on Tia, time to go!" She whispered to her unconscious sister picking her up and taking her away from the battle. The natural cover of evening light made it so this subtle movement was not noticed by either to the imposter Blue Roses. The real Evileye made a dash at full speed away from the body of Lakyus.

"Running will not do you any good!" Her fake yelled as another volley of sharp blades flew at Evileye, but as this was expected she already had [CRYSTAL WALL] ready to block this attack, and as Evileye did, the imposter ninja became invisible and ran toward Evileye in order to flank her and take her out next time she tried to cast a spell. But as soon as she passed the crystal wall she saw Evileye with her hands on the ground finishing her trump card spell [SAND FIELD].

"Waahhhh!" Was all the ninja could let out as a torrent of blinding sand swirled around her, she could not breathe, see or use any skills. Her body was being damaged by the dark infused sand particles. The fake Evileye was suffering a similar fate as she fell from the air. A huge area of sand was whipping all around encapsulating the two fake members of The Blue Rose. This sand storm raged for a few moments before stopping. The fake ninja was defeated and not moving, however, the fake Evileye was getting to her feet coughing, her red cloak was gone as was her mask revealing a cute girl with brown hair wearing a black suit.

"I guess you had something that protects you from my move huh?" Evileye said getting in range of her imposter. Both casters raised their hands at one another and cast a spell. [CRYSTAl LANCE] [BLADE STORM]. The shower of 200 metal blades were knocked aside as a large blue spiked lance flew through the center of the enemy attack. While Evileye did catch a few shards of metal in her feet, left shoulder and right arm. The giant crystal lance that hit her enemy in the chest then exploding in negative energy won her the showdown. The fake Evileye flew back several feet bounced along the ground and did not get up.

Evileye ran over to Lakyus who was just out of the range of her sand field. She used her last health potion to bring her back to consciousness, as soon as she was feeling better she could heal herself and begin the recovery of the rest of the team.

"We won?" Lakyus asked looking at the carnage of the fight.

"Yes, but the twins need your healing as soon as you can, this was a rough one boss," Evileye said in a pained voice as she pulled a shard of metal out of her arm. Evileye inspected the bodies of the defeated fake Blue Roses.

"Looks like the fake Garagan did not survive, I've tied up both ninja girls as well as the one pretending to be you," Evileye said as her boss healed the wounds of her teammates. She dropped the body of the fake Evileye before Lakyus.

"This caster is the one we need to be careful of," Evileye warned. The women nodded that they would take special care to watch her as they waited for members of the adventure guild to meet them here and take the culprits away to be judged for their crimes. After a few minutes, all the unconscious members of the Fake Blue Roses were awake and ready to be questioned by a now fully healed Real Blue Roses.

The four bandit women were also healed so they could talk and sat in silence awaiting their fate.

"Okay so while we wait for your escorts to get here, let's hear each of your names and where you came upon all this stuff," Lakyus said, they all nodded to show they would comply. She smiled and pointed at the fake Evileye.

"You, let's hear your story first as a caster I'm interested in you," Lakyus said, to the girl with brown hair, it was cut in short cute bangs and her blue eyes shone out like diamonds, she was very good looking for her young age. She sighed but then answered.

"My name is Ridda, I'm an orphan from E-Rantel. Both my father and brother were killed by the Sorcerer King during that time. I was only eleven at the time but my mother... she would receive coppers to let men... she looked away as tears came to her eyes, her voice was trembling too as bad memories surfaced. Lakyus clicked her tongue, she knew all too well what this girl probably had to endure. But Ridda kept telling her story.

"Anyway... I always had an ability to make a single piece of metal appear from out of nowhere, but I'd always get real light headed after doing it, sometimes I'd feel sick too, so I never used it. After a while I couldn't take it anymore, what I had to do... so I ran away from home. I left E-Rantel, I had heard of some nice goblins not too far away from my friend Belise. So I tried to run to Carne but got lost on the way there... that's when I ran into them." Ridda motioned her head to the two tied up ninja twins. They figured it was their turn to talk. Lakyus noticed their ears looked odd, they were elf ears, cut so badly that they were shorter than even human ears would be.

"I'm Ekisa, that's my younger half-sister Learcue, we have escaped slaves from The Slane Theocracy, I am 61 and she is 49. As we were "used" in much the same way Ridda was as our time as slaves... we decided to let her join our "little bandit operation". She said looking depressed as the memories of hard days returned. The younger Learcue completed what her older sister started.

"We took advantage of our young looks, and would rob kind people who would stop to help "a little girl crying on the side of the road". She said with no remorse. Lakyus was feeling different about these people before her...

"It was enough to keep us fed for the half-year or so we robbed until we tried to rob a noble Brother And Sister..." She said she looked at the woman who was pretending to be Lakyus until recently. She nodded as she knew it was her turn.

"My brother is named Nero Landale, I am Alis Landale, we are third brother and sister to a noble family in The Holy Kingdom. But left the household when it became evident we were going to be married off to a house much, much lower than our own, even as the third offspring, this was too much of an insult, so we too took to the roads in search of a better life." She looked around the room noticing her brother's absence and looked worried. She cleared her throat and kept going.

"Anyway, we came upon them when we saw a girl crying that she was lost. I wanted to help her but Nero suspected something was odd and decided to hang back, so when they all pulled out crudely made knives he simply flanked them with his sword and they surrendered immediately." Alis said in a happy tone. Evileye looked at Lakyus, she knew once this girl found out about her brother's fate, the mood would turn. Ridda spoke up.

"They took real good care of us, fed and bought us clothes... we considered them out parents, to be honest after a while." She said laughing a bit.

"But it wasn't long till our stockpile of money we took with us ran out, and we became just as desperate to eat as the girls had once been... we were just stupid teenagers after all... So we decided to rob a carriage, just once..." Alis said.

"It wasn't guarded so we thought it would be an easy target, and it was... it was close to 10,000 gold... and it wasn't guarded because nobody would be stupid enough to rob a carriage that was marked as property of the Sunlight Scripture to anyone who had bothered to look." She said gravely.

"We tried to apologize once we realized what we had done, but they told us to "enjoy the gold before the rest of us come for you." And simply walked away laughing, not even trying to take back a single coin. We knew we were in trouble so rode the carriage into a nearby forest..." Alis said. Lakyus looked at her group once again, this is where they would find that weird place.

"In this forest, we found this strange place, the guy there used all kinds of weird words and phrases, but we could tell that he wanted to sell us something... and once we saw what kinds of things he had for sale..." She said remembering in a tone that still sounded like she was in awe.

"We spent every last coin on the weapons and trinkets found there. So when the Slane Theocracy came to look for us in the forest, we easily picked them off one by one with this newfound power, we would strip them bare and sell their stuff to the store to buy even more gear like armor." Ridda explained to her friend.

"After that, we kept it up, we would target only nations of people who still allowed slavery. And we used the gold to further our power via the shop in the forest." Ekisa finished for her group.

"Alright fine, I get all that... so why masquerade as us? Why try to ruin our good names?" Evileye asked becoming angry as she got over the sob story of this group. Alis shook her head.

"We didn't want to ruin anything... it just became a convenient way to move about the land. Using the shop we could make our clothes look any way we wanted, so we made them look like you guys, as we kinda realized we already sorta matched The Blue Roses... more or less in body types." Alis explained, and again Ridda spoke up for her.

"But old habits die hard, and as we still needed money to live, an occasional robbery here and there kept us healthy and happy, but we never killed a single person that didn't try to kill us first... and for what it's worth we are sorry for the trouble we caused you," Ridda said looking down shamed. Lakyus motioned for her team to join her in the corner.

"Well... what you guys think? The story sounds real enough..." Lakyus said. Evileye nodded.

"Yeah, I think they are telling us the truth about everything." She said looking over at the group that was just sitting in silence.

"Um... what will happen to them?" Tina asked. Lakyus frowned.

"The elves will be returned to their... rightful owners, as they are escaped, slaves..." The look of disgust was not hidden, she knew these elves were sex slaves... at the very least.

"Ridda will probably be arrested and imprisoned or simply executed due to the fact that she is a rogue caster. The Slane Theocracy will have rights to her fate, and they will not be kind.. she could be in the worse trouble compared to the rest of her friends... Nero included." lakyus said honestly. Everybody frowned.

"Once her noble blood is realized they may try to sell her back to her family, if they pay her ransom they will turn her over, if not... again, her fate will be in the cruel hands of The Slane Theocracy." She said finishing up. Evileye sighed... She didn't like how this was playing out.

"Anyway, it's not our place to judge them, they did what they did, and will have to live with those consequences..." Lakyus said but still looked very unpleased.

"Yeah, and um... we should tell her about her brother as well..." Evileye finished. Lakyus nodded and walked back to them to explain why Nero was no presence in the room


	14. Bloodbath

Night watch. He hated it, all night you would hear things moving in the forest beyond where your torch would light it up. You'd swear you saw the glint of Demihuman eyes, but before you can scream out that an attack is happening you see it's just a shadow cat, you know the thing that's a normal animal, but will still kill you if you let it creep up behind you. Then there was the random screeches from bats and night birds that tested how sturdy your bladder was. The jungle before seemed so big at night, and it was big. Seemed anything could run out to get you at any moment, yes. Tillard Meyfkow was not a fan of the night watch, especially here on the ground floor. But whatever, his shift would be over soon, just needed to survive the next two hours, then he'd go home and wake up his new wife. He smiled as he thought of her but just as he began to lose himself in fantasy two dark figured walked out of the jungle and into the clearing before the gate.

"Who... WHO GOES THERE?" He called out, the taller of two darkly cloaked figured rose its hands to show it had no weapons, but the shorter one did nothing but keep walking.

"Answer me now or be met w..." He was interrupted by someone suddenly in front of him, it was the figure that had just had its hands held up, but... that was over 30 yards away! (27.5 meters) "How?" Was the last thing he thought before a stiletto found its way to his heart, a man at the gate, on top of a lookout went to sound a bell alarm but a chain whipped out from Clementine's arm and cut the man's head in half, he fell silently onto her side of the wall. Zesshi walked up and cast [Fly] and floated on top of the tower to see if there were any more lookouts, they were in the clear. She motioned for Clementine to join her, the blonde assassin ran up the wall and jumped up to the roof of the tower to land next to Zesshi.

"Alright, we're here in the southern city Debone... finally! What are we gonna be doing in the Holy Kingdom? More killing I hope!" She said silently but with a smile. Zesshi smiled and nodded.

"Indeed, I have a hit list of more nobles that need to die... it's all of them, I am to kill every single head of family Noble that I can tonight... it should be easy enough." She said chuckling at the fun that was going to happen, her new masters sure kept her busy. Clementine hummed a bit then asked.

"Okay so who are these nobles?" But Zesshi shook her head.

"Again, the lives of the blue bloods are mine, your job will be much more... fun." Clementine looked surprised. But instead of an answer, Zesshi asked her a question.

"I have a question for you Clem... how many people can you kill?" She asked in a bored tone.

"What do you mean?" Clementine asked more confused.

"In one night... in a city much like this one, if I were to tell you to go down there and kill every single person that moved or slept... to slaughter without mercy and remorse... what would your body count be by morning?" Zesshi asked with a smile. Clementine's eyes grew wide.

"You can't mean..." She asked in disbelief. But Zesshi nodded.

"It is our job to kill as many people in this city as we can in 24 hours... the southern half of this country hasn't felt true fear or pain, we will teach them that." She said the grin now becoming a bored look once again. Clementine scratched her head.

"Well... if the city guard is as weak as those two..." She began but Zesshi cut her off.

"I will take out all the city guard and night watch stations as I make my way from household to household , you will be free to reign terror and bloodshed onto the local peasants and civilians of this town, kill as many as you want so long as they die fast and bloody, we want the street to literally run red with blood, this is a message that nobody is safe. When morning breaks we will call off out assault and retreat to the jungle. Clementine had to stifle a laugh, orders this easy and fun really did not come every day.

"Alright, so when does this murder show get underway?" Clementine asked.

"Tomorrow, tonight I will set up various traps that will take out a large number of guard stations and night watch, it will be silent but alarm will still probably be raised, but by the time I trigger those traps, you will already be working, and I will have dealt with the nobles, also just so you know, after I kill all the nobles and guards I will help join your assault onto the innocent, I will kill as many as I can that are fleeing your radius of death." Her voice so mattered of fact about the oncoming violence that it turned Clementine on a little bit.

"Okay so while you're prepping this shindig I should..." Clementine asked

"Just plan your route through the town, hit the densely populated places first as they sleep, make your path of bloodshed as efficient as possible like i said, the higher the body count, the better, no mercy of any kind is to be granted to anyone under any circumstances... understood?" A dark chuckle was her answer that Clementine understood perfectly.

"Alright good, I'll go prep the traps, you plan your path," Zesshi repeated the orders then vanished. Clementine smiled as she looked around. "Child in a candy store" crossed her mind when she thought of all the fun she was going to have tomorrow night. She spun two stilettos in each handover and over as she mentally traced her path through the slums of the city the whole time smiling sadistically.

This day in the Holy Kingdoms southern capital was like any other. Waking up and eating was what most did before getting ready to head to their place of work or business. People walked to work and talked about their plans for the day. Kids played, mothers made food for the families and the daily life flowed right on schedule as it always had. During the noon hours, hard-working men and women took breaks where they could to get in some drink and food to fuel the rest of their day. A few relationships ended this day, even more, were began as young men asked their girls to be theirs. And as the day crept on, people would leave their workplaces and head home to see their families or no one at all, most headed to their favorite local pubs to begin the nights drinking with their friends. And so as this normal day ended and night fell onto the unsuspecting town, two secret agents prepared to go to work themselves.

"Okay Clem, at midnight begin your attack, this will give me a good six hours to silently cut down the houses of the controlling factions. Clem just nodded once to show she understood... her hands were shaking...

Zesshi...

"Alright, that was easy enough..." Zesshi thought as she cleaned the blood from her blade. Most houses of the nobles were gated off from the rest of the community and city guard. This made it incredibly easy to kill them without being seen from the streets or some random event like that happening. She would land silently on the rooftop, enter a window, and simply work her way from room to room slaying every living person in the house. She'd start from the top and work her way down killing the servants and maids last. Then she would enter the front door and fly off to the next rich looking estate that was on her Death List.

"I'm making good time!" She thought to herself, and indeed she was. By now she had really found her rhythm and was able to kill the inhabitants of mansions and large houses in around seven minutes, leaving time to check for anyone hiding and the like. By the ten minute mark, she'd already be headed to her next target. This was painfully easy, almost none of her target had hired any security, not that they could stop her, it's just that the ones that did have security took around twelve or so minutes to clear, but luckily these houses were very few apart.

Four hours went on like this, by the time this angel of death took a break, over twenty high ranking Holy Kingdom families were no more, she wasn't done by a long stretch but things were about to get a lot more lively. She would only have two more hours of peace to work before all hell would break loose, better make the most of it.

Two hours later she had culled over half of the noble families of the city and was working on less important households when she concentrated on her magic traps she'd spent the night before laying and activated them. All around the city deadly gas was being spread. Every guardhouse and night watch station was enveloped in fatal gas and the city guard died peacefully and quietly that was not on parole, they would be the lucky ones.

"Clementine should be starting her culling by now..." Zesshi thought as she looked at the night's moon, if she was ever going to help Clementine out she'd have to pick up her game. She'd try to clear household by the five-minute mark from here on out...

Clementine...

The small bed looked nice dripping red, she would burst into a house stab every bed three times.

"Two to the chest, one to the head" She repeated this over and over and over with every bed she stabbed. She wasn't even counting how many she killed, she was too focused on her job. Every now and then someone walking the streets or a couple kissing in an alleyway would catch her eye and that would be how their story ended. It proceeded like this for some time until a few screams began to ring out here and there as bodies were discovered. By then some people would wander out to the window to see what was going on, they would usually just see a chain approaching them before darkness.

It wasn't until a good majority of the slums knew something wasn't right that Clementine descended upon the bars and taverns. She'd blow through the rooms in blinding speed, replacing the mugs of ale men had to their faces with her stilettos. Such a large amount of targets crammed together would usually fall at the same time by the time the mistress of death was leaving out the door she'd entered.

Panic and terror began to grip the streets now. Women were calling out for help that would never come, mothers, screaming as they discovered what had become of their sleeping loved ones only to join them seconds later. One could traceClementines path simply by the cries of suffering and pain, and the bodies, lots and lots of bodies. By the time people were resorting to running to the city gates in an attempt to flee the city that was not safe, they were met by a black and white-haired elf girl wielding a blade as long as she was.

Zesshi...

The terrified crowd all screamed and made a run for the gates that were barred closed. They were all screaming to have the gates opened and to be let out but their answer was a figure dropping into the center of the terrified mob. She swung her blade out using its power. Three swirling "blade tornadoes" appeared about four feet in diameter wide and spun off into the terrified crowd. The image was much like three red water fountains spinning around as limbs and blood sprayed everywhere in a beautiful display of murder. Zesshi would mop up the ones her blade tornadoes did not and then she'd be off to the next gate to repeat this act a few more times.

Clementine...

Clementine was just killing as she ran at this point, people were fleeing from the slums thinking a huge Demihuman army had made its way into the city. As she ran down the now crowding streets bodies would fall flat in silence only the arcs of crimson along the walls were the clues that she had passed. Men, women, boys, and girls. All were dead before they even knew what had killed them. Clementines relentless assault carved through the streets, after the crowd began to thin out she'd make second and third passes to clean up anyone she might have missed, by this time she was soaked from head to toes in blood, her blonde hair matted crimson as was her new white mask. Her black cloak dripped with heavy amounts of red, but she only increased the speed of her slaughter at this point.

Zesshi...

Only three hours left until dawn. The cries and screams now could be heard from every corner of this large city. It was time for the final part of this show. Zesshi activated [Fly] and after she had gained enough height she stretched out her hands and began casting [FIREBALL]. She targeted the huddling masses first and smirked as bodies were flung this way and that from the explosions, next, she shot her fire at places that would easily catch fire and spread the flames.

"Okay next..." She said out loud as she flew around the outskirts of the city raining down fire and death as she flew cutting off all the cities main streets, her mana was dangerously low so she'd have to start choosing her casts carefully at this point, but so long as all the cities main exits were burning and impassable it would be fine.

Clementine...

Her arms hurt and her legs were screaming to take a break, but Clementine did not listen she simply ran at full speed cutting down anyone she came across. Off in the distance, she heard loud explosions and screams she took a break to drink a couple of high-quality stamina potions and after they took effect she was off once again to compete for her deadly deed. She was having trouble holding onto her weapons they were coated in so much liquid, so she tightened up her grip as to not drop them and continued stabbing at the terrified faces she came across. The next two hours continued like this until Clementine heard a [MESSAGE] in her head.

"Okay Clem that's enough, call off the attack and meet me by that river we passed before heading here, I imagine we both could do with a cleanup." Zesshis voice said. Clementine stopped and looked up at the sky, the lines of the sun breaking over the hills could just now be made out, she sighed and leaped away to where she was commanded to go. By the time the two women met up at the river 92% of the cities nobility had been killed. The total number of dead would never be known as so many of the bodies were not recognizable but estimations range around 15,000 in number, not including the countless more that would die in the fires and starve from no food as food stores were also destroyed in the attack. And the rumors of just who or what had done this attack are just as many, though many seemed to think it was the remnants of the demon Jaldabaoth's army taking one final shot at humanity out of spite.

By the time Clementine walked up to the river she saw Zesshi fully nude and bathing, a pink trail flowed from where she bathed down the clean streams water., Clementine simply walked into the icy cold river and lay flat letting the crimson wash off of her. When she felt satisfied that her clothes were somewhat clean she also stripped and bathed proper paying attention to clean the viscera out of her hair.

"Not a bad night's work!" Clementine said to her boss as the two washed off.

"We achieved what we were after, fear and panic." Now the southern nobles won't feel so safe knowing that even their cities can fall in only one night unexpectedly, it might change their tune about their support of The Sorcerer King, and any help they might ask of him in the future.

"Will they really break down after just one city falls?" Clemasked as a chunk of meat fell from her hair.

"Probably not, but that's why we're making our way to the neighboring city of Krup... I hope you have it in you to do this again. We have another city to burn... and they will be on the lookout for us this time." Zesshi warned finishing up and getting dressed.

"That should not matter much, right?" Clementine asked sitting in the water and cleaning her legs.

"Not really, we just won't have the luxury of a "set up" as we did in Debone. But our goal isn't a high body count this time around, just to inflict enough damage to the city and it's people that they will fear it happening again to other cities. Creating confusion and paranoia will be out goals at Krup" Zesshi said finished up and putting on the last of her gear.

"Sounds fun, so after this, we go pay Garagan a visit?" Clementine asked, remembering the name of one of her mission goals. Zesshi nodded.

"She is currently in Krup, so finding her shouldn't be hard if they are posting lookouts and setting guards up for this unknown threat that is us... I suspect she will be assisting in the city defenses. So if we see her I will abduct her while you continue your attack as planned, then we can meet up back here for the... interrogation." Zesshi said. By now Clementine was laying out her clothes so they would dry in the morning and noon Sun. She laid out naked in the sun as well to dry off.

"Fine, just let me get some sleep as my things dry off... I'm freaking exhausted!" Clementine said as she closed her eyes and fell asleep right away.


	15. A new team

The cage they were in was hot. The four women were bound and gagged, being taken to their final judgment in the Slane Theocracy. Ridda looked at the eyes of her family. Alis was still motionless, once she learned of Nero getting killed she stopped doing or saying anything, even when the Slane Theocracy soldiers that came to pick them upbeat her for not listening to their order. Alis was in bad shape, her face was swollen and her eyes glazed over. The elf twin were crying, even though the gags made them silent their tears running down their faces spoke to how scared they were. They too were scared and sad for losing their father.

"This is bullshit... Nero is dead... how..." Ridda thought. Her family was going to get taken apart. But then two things suddenly struck her. While The Blue Roses had taken all of their gear and equipment, they left her earrings on. These were the reason she could use her inner power of making metal without passing out, they supplied her with mana that she did not naturally have. Did they simply forget to take these from her?

"Wait..." None of The Blue Roses told their guards Ridda was a magic caster. Her bindings were just rope like the others. Another mistake on their part? Now that she had calmed down these two very obvious mistakes seemed unlikely. Was there something else? Had they... yes! Before they left here, one of The Blue Roses had said, overly loud, something about all their gear being stored in a hidden compartment on the roof of the carriage... that was odd too right? Openly talking about a hidden compartment?

Ridda sat up and looked out the small barred window. It was day and they seemed to be in a hilly region, but it also looked secluded. Ridda summoned a knife to her hand and started sawing at the ropes. Ekisa saw this and her eyes went wide Ridda nodded back, and soon she had cut off her ropes and worked to free her family. However even after she freed Alis, all she did was lay there motionless.

"What's wrong with her?" Learcue asked but Ridda shook her head.

"I don't know, but we need to find a way out of this carriage," Ridda whispered.

"We can't do much without our weapons and gear..." Ekisa reminded her.

"Nero..." Learcue said in a small voice, they all wanted their father with them, but now was not the time for that.

"Yeah I know... right now I'm the only one who can fight, and even then... there are five Slane Theocracy elites out there... I could take one, maybe two if I got lucky and they don't summon angels. But that's it." Ridda said clicking her tongue.

"Also my magic can't bust us out of here... so there's that," Ridda whispered but just as she said that the prison carriage they rode stopped. The girls looked at each other if these men were going to "have some fun" with the prisoners before turning them in... this was their chance! But instead she heard voices from outside her carriage, it was the Slane Theocracy casters that were transporting them.

"Who is that woman coming toward us?" One man asked.

"No idea, looks like a Holy Kingdom paladin, what the hell? Why is a paladin all the way out here?" His friend asked also confused. The third spoke up.

"Doesn't matter, she has nothing to do with us, just inform her to stay out of our way, and we'll report this when we drop off the prisoners." A few seconds went past when they began to speak.

"We are on official Slane Theocracy business, stay away from this transport Paladin!" Ridda and the two elves looked surprised they shook Alis over and over, finally, she snapped to.

"What... what's going on?" Her bruised face asked finally realizing she was not tied up.

"Ridda freed us, but there's something going on outside if they open the doors for whatever reason Ridda will use magic to try and escape, we have to get to the top of this carriage, she says our gear is there," Learcue explained in a silent tone to her adopted mother. Alis sat up rubbing her wrists, the look of a protector returned to her eyes, she still had her daughters to look after.

"STAY BACK I SAID! THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!" One of the men cried.

"What the hell... what's up with that sword?" One of the men asked sounding frightened.

"ANGELS NOW!" The first man commanded, suddenly there were holy sounds from all over from outside.

"Attack now!" He commanded again. There were some flashes of light then screams as the men became erratic.

"Why can't they hurt her? This isn't possible right?" The second man asked.

"Just keep attacking her!" A fourth yet unheard man cried out.

"It's not doing anything, you idiot! She's literally ignoring our angels and still just walking at us... and what the fuck is up with that sword?" Now fear and panic was evident in all their voices. Then cries of pain rang out before the carriage that the girls were in was somehow flung into the air.

"Hold on!" Alis cried grabbing onto all the girls in her arms and taking the brunt of the damage when the carriage slammed back on the ground in huge crash. However, this impact knocked the door open and all four immediately crawled out. Ridda started checking the top for the compartment she heard about, soon she found it.

"Here, our stuff is here!" She whispered to her family, they all ran over and grabbed their trinkets and equipment, after a few seconds they were all geared up and hidden behind the carriage as some kind of war raged. Ridda peeked around the corner. She saw a woman with short brown hair and dazzling white plate armor holding onto an evil looking blade, it was impaling a blonde man as she held his convulsing body above her head. The arm that held her weapon was pitch black and the man's blood ran down her arm as her eyes looked pure black as well.

"Put him down!" Another man yelled as he shot lightning at the paladin. But she ignored the attack and just turned and threw the man she was impaling into the other, the impact was so enormous that both men's bodies shattered and broke apart when they collided. Ridda hid again and stifled a scream, she looked at the others and shook her head, this was still a bad situation.

"Attack her! Keep away from her but keep..." Another man yelled before his voice was cut off and a severed head fell in front of the girls from behind the carriage. Learcue screamed out in surprise... their position had been given away. Ridda peaked again and sure enough, the evil woman was walking toward them.

"She...It's coming for us! We have to run!" Alis cried the girls nodded. Ridda put out her hands and cast [METAL BLADE SUITS] as metal blades formed around all the girls giving them suits of spiked armor.

"Okay go, just run and don't stop even if she gets one of us, just keep running okay? We have to get away." Alis said Ekisa nodded and vanished as did Learcue now that they had their ninja gloves back on. And just like that, they ran, they all broke off in separate directions, this was an escape route they had planned. Ridda cast [FLY] and took to the air still escaping fast, luckily she didn't hear her family cry out.

"Wait... this plan requires Nero to buy us..." Ridda suddenly turned to look back in fear, and she saw exactly what she was afraid of. Alis was wielding her Wave Crasher and was meeting the dark paladin head-on, she was buying the girls time... something Nero would have done... Ridda closer her eyes thanking her mother for all that she had done for her.

"I do not want to fight you, but if you mean my girls harm, then be prepared to fight me!" Alis cried standing in front of the woman with black eyes. The evil paladin rose her gold and black weapon into the air.

"Acid general." She spoke and a green gem that was in the mouth of a snake suddenly fell out of the mouth and as the gem landed, out sprang a powerful looking undead. It was a skeleton in green and black robes and green acid fell from it burning the ground below it.

"Kill them." She ordered, and before Alis could make a move the green undead had ran past her and was heading for one of the twins, Ekisa. Alis turned to look at the back of the monster that just ran past her, she swung at it, but was too late, however a large wave of water came crashing out of the sword and slammed onto the back of the undead, it screamed as it was thrown hard into the ground, water just happened to be it's weak element.

Alis was about to spin around and attack the Paladin with the same move but before that, a black blade emerged from her chest. She screamed out in pain, a scream that got the attention of the fleeing girls, they all turned to see their mother getting run through the back, held up into the air and flung to the side, discarded and forgotten like a used up torch.

"All the girls screamed in sadness but did not give in to their urges to run back to her, they understood this was the most anyone had loved them, they would not let that love be wasted. As the three women ran in separate direction Ridda looked over her shoulder at the unmoving form of her mother Alis Landale.

"Thank you..." She whispered then flew off into the air, she hovered above Learcue, it would seem they had gotten away. The green-robed undead could only see Ridda, and as he could not fly or see invisible people, he gave up and returned to his master's sword as a green gem. The paladin did not seem to care and just returned walking the direction she had been. Ridda glared at the lone figure fighting back more tears, she would get revenge on her someday... somehow.

The girls met up after the danger had passed, all their eyes were red from crying.

"Alis and Nero... our parents are both gone..." Learcue cried, Ekisa held her as tears ran down her face as well, Ridda was no longer crying, her sadness had turned to hate and depression gave way to rage. Both elf girls noticed Ridda's twisted look of hate and were worried.

"Ridda? Are you okay?" Ridda just nodded once.

"I'm going to kill that woman someday, that's my goal from here on out... you two can go wherever you want, as of now I'm going back to E-Rantel. I want to get stronger... but first... we'll wait a bit then go back for mom's body and stuff." After some time passed Ridda flew down and retrieved Alis. She was heavy but using [FLY] made it easier to carry her to a secluded tree they had located. The twins had already dug a hole. Ridda removed her mother's magical gear and they set her into the hole and covered it, they all cried and could not bring themselves to talk, so they just stood there until darkness came and then they made camp there.

Ridda was now wearing the red and silver armor her mother was wearing as well as her two rings and necklace. Her mother's blade was strapped to her back, the thing the size she was. Neither Elf said anything when Ridda helped herself to the best gear as they were not planning to fight anymore.

"Why are you going back to E-Rantel Ridda?" Ekisa asked as they sat around the fire. Ridda glared.

"First things first... I'm going to kill my mo... I'm going to kill that woman in E-Rantel." After that I'll join the Adventurers Guild, find a team and get stronger... when I have the power I need, I will find the woman who did that to mother." Ridda said coldly. The elves looked at one another, while they both wanted to follow their adopted sister, she was choosing a path of blood, and they had seen enough, neither wanted to fight anymore, not after experiencing trie loss and defeat. So they remained silent and fell asleep next to the fire, glad at least for another day of freedom. When they woke up the next morning, Ridda was gone.

"I'm going to make that woman suffer..." She thought darkly to herself as she flew across the countryside, some people would stop and point up as she flew above them following the road to E-Rantel. Getting revenge on the woman who gave birth to Ridda never crossed her mind before, but losing Alis changed Ridda, she now only wanted to see that twisted look of pain and regret that Alis had on that woman's face, she smiled as a surge of pleasure rushed through her young body as she thought of how it would feel to torture that woman to death. After three straight days and night of travel, she saw E-Rantel appear on the horizon when the guard saw her flying they motioned for her to drop down to talk.

"Hello, little caster! What brings you to E-Rantel?" A Friendly man with a large belly said, but his arms were bulging with muscles, this man was a powerful warrior. Ridda acted like her age of thirteen and removed all tones of malice from her voice.

"I'm here to see my mother after being away for so long! Then I wanna become an adventure and join the adventurers guild!" She said with fake pluck and happiness. The guard looked to another man who looked to be a caster, he nodded that the girl spoke the truth and they let her in.

"Well we're always glad to see a caster want to join the ranks of adventures!" The man said giving her a thumbs up, she forced a cute smile that suited her cute face and they laughed telling her where the adventures guild could be located. She gave them an adorable wave and bow, but as soon as she turned around the darkness returned to her expression. She marched with murderous intent toward her old house, she would never forget where it was. At one point she walked past a woman with black hair tied back into a ponytail, she had a perfect white face and had a brown cloak wrapped around her body. As soon as Ridda walked past her the girl turned and looked at her.

"Who are you going to kill?" The Adventure girl asked Ridda. Oddly enough this question did not phase her.

"My mother." She said honestly and stopped walking, waiting to see what this older woman was going to say about this.

"Do not spill blood in this city, the second you do, your life will be forfeit, not that I care about bugs like you, but just so you know." The tall woman shrugged and kept walking. Ridda blinked, this woman's calm tone had brought her back from her murderous intent. But more than that she noticed the adamantite plate that hung from her neck, this girl was an Adventure.

"But I have to kill her..." She said, the woman just shook her head.

"Then lure her out of the city and kill her there." The beautiful woman said in a matter of fact tone. But this was good advice. Ridda nodded that she would do just that, she would make this revenge an art form, simply kicking in the door would not do.

"HEY!" She called again to the woman, she seemed very annoyed but stopped and turned to see what Ridda wanted.

"Make it fast ladybug." Ridda thought that was an odd nickname but paid it no heed.

"Can I join your team?" The woman looked so amazed by the question she didn't know what to say.

"Please! I want to join an adventure team! You seem strong pleased!" Ridda said now running up to the woman. Revenge would wait, getting stronger mattered more she realized as she cooled off. The woman just returned the way she was walking.

"Just find a team that needs a caster, our's has one already." She said with a hint of a laugh. Ridda nodded and changed her direction as she made her way to the Adventurers Guild. When she walked into the large hall the smell of alcohol hit her, there was a lively bar in this hall, as well as many shops, some people stopped to take notice of the little girl with amazing gear on, instead of walking up to the counter she stopped in the middle of the room and yelled out at the top of her lungs.

"I am a powerful magic caster looking to get stronger, I want to join the highest-ranked group here!" She announced while folding her arms in front of her and closing her eyes in a smug manner. There was a brief silence before everyone erupted into laughter.

"Good one little girl, now go find your mother before..." The gold-ranked adventure had chosen his words poorly. Before he knew it he was knocked to the ground, she raised her hand and summoned a large blade the size of a longsword, she brought it up to his neck before he even knew what was happening.

"Say that again scum!" She growled pressing the point of the blade against his throat, but before she could do any more harm she was lifted up into the air by a powerful arm from her waist belt. Ridda instinctively swung her blade at her attacked and heard it bounce off plate armor, she looked to see the girl she had talked to earlier next to a man who was holding Ridda, he was wearing Raven black adamantite armor, a red cape wrapped around one shoulder and two massive swords were slung over his back. He gave her strike no attention.

"You will need to calm down a bit if you want a team to take you seriously." The man said behind a dark helmet. His voice was calming and she dropped her weapon and looked away.

"I just want to..."

"Get strong?" He finished her sentence, she merely just nodded. He let out a long sigh and looked at his partner.

"Well Nabe, you're right, this one is full of energy." The armored man said.

"It wasn't "energy," I said she was full of... Mister Momon." Nabe said with a glare at the girl. As he was grabbing her by the back of her belt and dangled her mid-air in front of him he made their faces meet.

"And what will you do once you get stronger?" He asked.

"Kill the woman who killed my mother..." She said with cold eyes not belonging to a child. Monon was not expecting that.

"And how strong is this woman you seek to kill?" He asked. She recognized this man as the Hero of E-Rantel, she knew the tales and stories of his power and great deeds.

"Probably as strong as you... if not stronger," Ridda said, the crowds that had been watching this drama play out now burst into laughter at the thought of someone as strong as Momon. But Momon did not laugh.

"If that's so, you have a very high mountain to scale little one." It was then he noticed the nature of all her gear, she was decked out in low to mid-tier Yggdrasil gear. He brought her close and whispered.

"Did you get all that gear in a forest in The Slane Theocracy region?" He whispered so only she could hear, she nodded right away, he seemed a bit surprised.

"And uh... would you happen to know where that place went?" Momon asked in a silent tone. She nodded slightly, once she had asked the man who sold her all the stuff "What would happen if someone 'above level 45' came in here?" He told her he would "move locations" and he told her where he would like to go to if he had the chance. She gathered that this is what Momon was talking about when he asked: "where it went."

"And? Where can I find it?" He asked the tone of importance in his voice gave away how valuable he considered this information.

"Let me join your team and..." She began but he interrupted her in a loud booming voice. He turned to face the lady at the desk.

"I am officially entering this girl... um, what's your name little one?" He asked still holding her in the air by one hand.

"Ridda..." She said quietly.

"Okay listen up, as of now Ridda is the third member of my Adventure Team 'Raven Black'. Anyone have a problem with this?" Nabe looked very displeased but did not raise an objection she just glared at Ridda. Only one person spoke up in a very stressed voice.

"Well um... she would still have to officially sign up to be an adventure...Sir Momon." The woman at the desk said, he carried Ridda over and lowered her a bit so she could accept the forms needed.

"Uh, just fill these out and, well I guess you already have a good recommendation... so I don't see the need to bog you down any more little miss I mean Lady Ridda." The lady bowed to the new adventures. The people in the room watching this absurd act play out just burst into a round of applause, whoever this girl was, Sir Momon took an interest in her so she was "okay in everyone's book" at that point, even if she did have a bit of a temper.

"I will use the meeting room to discuss things with my newest member here while she fills out the forms," Momon said to the woman at the sign-in desk, she bowed.

"Oh um, she... of course will still have to start as a copper rank... regardless of her team..." The woman said, she turned a shade pale as she said that to the massive warrior, but Ridda just shrugged, rank did not matter, only power and strength did! And so with that Ridda became the first copper adventure to ever join an adamantine ranked team.

"You can set me down now," Ridda commanded the large man as they walked into the private room, apparently, he had forgotten that we was walking around holding her like a suitcase. He set her down and got right to business.

"You really know where this store went?" He asked in a serious tone. Again she nodded to his question.

"He told me where he would like to "set up shop" if he ever got the chance." She told him, Momon nodded for her to continue.

"He said something about people needing his stuff... uh, he mentioned a place with dragons." She said trying to remember what he had said.

"Dragon... did, he say "Draconic Kingdom?" The black-armored knight asked Ridda thought then nodded.

"Yeah! He said the people of the Draconic Kingdom needed his stuff." She said remembering the exact quote.

"Draconic Kingdom, I wonder where at..." He muttered to himself but she had an answer.

"Um he said "location location location" I guess he didn't like the forest he was in and wanted to move the store." She explained he looked at her.

"You spent a lot of time there didn't you?" He asked giving her a look, she nodded and pulled out a thin object called a "valued customer card".

"He gave me this for spending so much money there." Momon took the card and inspected it, it was Yggdrasil writing.

"Every 1000 gold spent and get a free lottery ticket for... A WORLD ITEM?" He could not believe what he just read.

"Ridda, can I have this, or can I buy it from you?" He asked she shook her head.

"He said it only works for me and me alone." She was not lying, he saw that written on the back of the card. Momon sat in a chair next to her so he could look her dead in the eyes.

"Ridda, if we find this store, would you mind giving me this "world item" we might win?" He asked in a trembling voice she had no idea what he was talking about, but this World item must be important.

"Just keep me in your team, so I can learn how to fight better... and buy me whatever I want there in the store, and yeah I'll give you this "world item" I could win, deal?" She said offering her hand, he reached out and shook her hand vigorously.

"Deal!" He exclaimed in a happy voice. After all the formalities were finished Momon turned to Ridda.

"I have a lot of planning to do, so just for the next week or so hang out in E-Rantel while I put things together to have us travel to The Draconic Kingdom, sound good?" He asked.

"Oh and don't worry about killing your mother, I've already sent people to arrest her, she will be investigated...and when her memories confirm her crimes, I promise you, she will pay dearly." He said in a tone that made her curious as to what she would face. Oddly enough that did make her feel better, while she wanted to fire all 200 blades she could summon into that woman's body... she was secretly glad just to never have to lay eyes on her again.

"Okay, a week, I'll meet you here then?" She asked looking up at the two. He motioned to Nabe.

"She will contact you by way of [MESSAGE] you will hear her voice in your head, you will be able to even speak back, when that happens I will have directions for you." He explained, she nodded. It would seem she was used to working with a group.

"So, tell me about this person you wish to kill," Momon asked before leaving the room.

"She was a paladin from The Holy Kingdom, but her weapon was evil, she..." Ridda told her teammates her story, how she escaped her mother's house, running into the twins, then the Landales, their adventures as bandits and then their defeat at the hands of The Blue Roses, finally the attack on their carriage and the death of Alis.

"Mister Momon, the only paladin we know of in this area is..." Nabe said Momon nodded.

"Yeah, sounds like Remedios alright, but where did she..." He stopped for some reason. Ridda looked confused, he knew this woman?

"No it's fine after we find this store, I will help you deal with this paladin, as a fellow teammate I feel I should do this for you." He spoke like a true hero Ridda thought. He handed her some gold.

"Use this to book a room at any hotel that suits you and wait for me to contact you." He directed. She nodded and thanked him as they parted ways.

"Remedios..." She said the name of the woman she would kill in a dark voice.


	16. Satisfying

"Wake up!" A swift kick to her legs woke Clementine. She glared angrily at Zesshi who was standing above her.

"What?" She asked rudely.

"Orders," Zesshi said simply.

"Yes yes I know, we're gonna attack Krup right?" But Zesshi shook her head.

"I will still attack Krup, but alone, you are going somewhere else." Clementine blinked a few times as she got up and began to get dressed.

"Okay, so where am I going?" She asked slipping on her boots that were now dry and somewhat clean.

"Draconic Kingdom," Zesshi answered plainly. Clementine looked confused.

"There is no Draconic kingdom, right? I mean didn't the Beastmen eat them all up?" She said making a "yummy" motion and rubbing her stomach. Again Zesshi just shook her head.

"They managed to hold onto the capital with the help of our former boys, and I guess The Baharuth Empire has been supporting them heavily since they no longer square off against the Re-Estize kingdom once a year anymore, but it's still humans against Beastman... they can only hold the lines, not take back any lost ground, which is substantial. Clementine shrugged.

"Okay so am I killing Dragons or Beastmen?" There were no dragons in the Draconic kingdoms anymore, she knew this.

"Beastmen, for now, it seems like that old shop we used to use in the forest has resurfaced there," Zesshi explained. Clementine thought for a second as she pulled each of her gloves on.

"If the Draconic Kingdom has that store..." She said.

"After they crush the Beastmen, they will be in a position of true power once they can heal the wounds of their war. I can see this as a problem. If we were hoping to "save" the Draconic Kingdoms once they asked for help... not only will they not ask for help..."

"But they could even become a power that rivals even Nazarick after a while right?" Zesshi nodded. It made sense then why she was getting sent there.

"Okay, so what do I do once I get there?" Clem asked.

"Ainz is already mobilizing a small unit to go into the Draconic Kingdoms and look for the store, however it is assumed that it will not be remote like last time, in fact, he has reason to believe it may have even appeared in the middle of their city... meaning they are already reaping the benefits of its inventory." Clementine let out a sigh, if they are already using the store then things would get harder very fast if even a normal citizen can raise to ranks of hero with just some gold and a little bit of skill.

"So you see why we are sending you there ahead of the group to do some recon?" Clementine nodded as she was now finished getting dressed, she drank a stamina potion for her meal and nodded she was ready. Zesshi clutched her pendant and used it to cast [GATE] Clementine stepped through and she was suddenly hundreds of miles away in the Draconic Kingdom. But she wasn't in a city like she expected to be. She was in an open plain with the city still some ways away.

"Stupid elf girl messed up..." She muttered out loud, and to her surprise, a loud voice behind her answered.

"Then we should thank this stupid elf for sending us some fun and a meal!" Clementine turned around and she saw twenty or so Beastmen.

"What are you guys doing so close to the capital like this?" Her lack of fear and familiar tone took them back for a second.

"We, uh, we're just supposed to keep an eye on the city, and report anything weird, but you appearing in front of us like this was more than we expected." The Beastman who looked like a large bipedal monkey said laughing. Clementine pulled down her mask and shot out two lightning-fast chain strikes, she cut the demihuman into three parts, his head, chest and waist section all fell to the ground with a flopping sound. Before any of the nineteen beastmen knew what was going on, their prey was dashing about, a spray of blood followed by a cry of pain then a falling body was all they knew what had happened.

"Hey... St..." A large Bafolk demihuman yelled as a stiletto met his face and a surge of acid exploded melting his head off. Cries of pain and anguish could be heard from the back of the beastman unit as more demihumans fell to Clementine's speed and skill. Before too long all but one demihuman lie dead, Clementine stood in front of him taunting him to come at her. However this demihuman that looked like a horse and a man combined was not scared, instead, he was smiling.

"What's so funny?" Clementine asked noting his absurdly huge smile.

"All I've ever wanted, was to meet an honorable end, killed by a stronger opponent than myself!" He said beating on his chest.

"And I will die like that! You will give me the death I always wanted!" He said brandishing his war ax. Clementine looked confused but just shrugged as two chains flew out cutting the smiling head from its body.

"Wow, if demihumans can just sit here in the open like this, this Dragon kingdom must be in really bad shape." She muttered to herself. As she turned to walk toward the city she saw people approaching her on horses. Apparently her fight had been spotted by someone at the gates of the city. They stopped at a safe distance from her.

"Who are you, woman? Who appears from nothing and kills so many demihumans for sport?" A tall man said. He had blonde hair that was neatly cut short, he was clean-shaven and had the vestments on of a cleric.

"I'm uh... an adventure from The Baharuth Empire, I thought I could earn a name for myself helping you fine folk from these things!" She said sticking her thumb toward the pile of meat that were once called Beastmen. She then pulled out a tag made of adamntite.

"We had heard of a lot of new adamantite adventures springing up, didn't expect to meet any of them." The cleric said dismounting and offering his hand, Clem shook it.

"By the way, I am Cedri Goltron." The nice man said introducing himself. Clementine thought for a second.

"Names Quintia, nice to meet you!" She said smiling and pulling up her mask. They shook hands and he escorted "Quintia" into the city. The city was in terrible shape, trash and refuse was thrown about, small campfires burned all around as people cried for food or other life-sustaining needed.

"Looks like you're not doing too well here, eh?" Clementine said looking at the impoverished faces.

"Ah, it gets better the closer you get to the castle... speaking of which, our Queen Draudillon Oriculus would very much like to speak to you!" Clementine nodded and was taken to this queen of the Draconic Kingdom. Clementine had not expected to see such a cute little girl sitting on the well-made throne. To her side stood a distinguished-looking knight. Clementine did not bow when she approached the girl to see how she would react.

"So you are the one that "appears for nowhere and kills twenty demihumans single-handedly?" She asked, ignoring the lack of a bow. This girl looked adorable and spoke in such a manner Clementine knew her age was not what she looked. Clementine shrugged.

"I was bored killing monsters for the Empire, and I heard your beastmen were kind of strong, but I guess that was a lie huh? Anyway, I just came here looking for a good fight." Clementine casually looked at all the gear everyone was wearing, it seemed no one had "shop gear" on them. Clementine decided to gamble and just ask.

"Also I heard that maybe a new store or shop opened up around here lately? One selling really strong things like what I have on me here?" Clementine put herself on display so they could see the incredibly well-made weapons and armor she wore. But nobody seemed to have any clue what she was talking about.

"I'm sorry Lady Quintia, but I do not know of any store like this on our lands." She said looking at the man next to her, he shook his head no. This was a problem, if they were telling the truth, then the store isn't where her masters thought it was. She would just wait and listen.

"Then, is it okay if I hang around your city and kill a buncha beastmen?" Clementine asked smiling, the cute queen smiled back.

"Indeed! And we shall pay you for every beastman tongue you can collect." She said clapping her hands. But Clementine did not need money.

"Good, then if you could show me to a room or a place where one can be rented..." Clementine began but the young girl rose her hand.

"We have... many houses that are not in use but are in great condition... we will assign you one of these houses." Clementine bowed and excused herself as Cedri took her to the house.

"I know you might think less of us, but we really do appreciate the help form your empire," Cedri said. Clementine just smiled and closed the door behind her. She pulled out her scroll and used it casting [MESSAGE].

"Problem, tell our bosses that I don't think the store is in the capital of the Dragon Kingdom," Clementine said in a dark tone.

"But that is the only city in the hands of the Dragon Kingdom... so unless..."

"Unless the store appeared in the hands of the Beastmen, they are not telling the truth, but they do not seem like they are lying." Zesshi sounded not pleased at this prospect of this store being somewhere the Beastman controlled.

"This is bad news, but good work on finding this out so early for us, I will report what you have told me to our masters." Zesshi's voice said.

"Just wait, and try to endear yourself to them until the special unit arrives." And then [MESSAGE] was over. Clementine laid on her back looking up at the ceiling. She would wander the streets to see if this store could be found, but first, she still needed a little rest after that workout she had. Clementine drank another stamina potion. She was going to buy out that store's stock of these things if she found it. She must have still been tired because she drifted off to sleep.

Everything was dark... she couldn't see anything, and a familiar sound was all around her, the sound of thousands upon thousands of bugs scurrying around her naked body. Panic set in as she knew what was about to happen, she clenched her teeth shut and crossed her legs in an attempt to shield herself from the oncoming pain.

"Welcome, Clementine!" A bug dressed as a king said greeting her warmly.

"No... I did good right? I... I don't deserve this right?" She cried like a little girl sitting and falling to the floor kicking away the ocean of pain that tried to crawl into her body.

"You've done a great job! But our Lord Ainz Ooal Gown wishes to see you suffer more and more!" The king bug said clicking happily as thousands of more roaches fell from the ceiling and covered Clementine, she instinctively went to cry for help but remembered what would happen is she opened her mouth, not that it mattered, the bugs were already finding different places to crawl into her body and begin their meal. She could feel them violating her just as it began to be too much...

"Noooo!" Clementine screamed out and sat up as fast as she could. It had been a dream. That dream, every time she slept, the same nightmare would come to her. She was covered in sweat and...

"Shit..." She looked at the bed that was soaking wet, she had wet herself in her sleep from fear. She grumbled and got up to once again clean herself off. But as a memory of her nightmare crept back into her head she fell to the ground dry heaving over and over, only spitting up saliva and crying just as she would as a child in that dark cell all alone so many years ago.

"Goddamnit..." She cursed as she was finally able to gain control of her mind again. She knew she was losing weight too. While the stamina potions she drank were very healthy as far as vitamins and nutrients went, they had no caloric value, so she was losing more and more weight by the day. She would have to force herself to eat something with a high-fat value in it... but was still easy to digest... she coughed a few times then went to clean up.

Clementine walked outside, it was dusk now and the mood was tense, apparently every night there would be an attack, nothing serious. But that could change any day now. The 3,000 knights sent from the Baharuth empire took defensive positions along the walls waiting for the nightly raid to begin.

"HEY!" One of the knights yelled at a woman who was walking out of the gate. She turned to look at him.

"What?"

"The hell are you doing? The Beastmen will be here soon as darkness falls! Get back behind the wall!" He commanded out of worry for this woman in a dark cloak and white mask. She just waved to him and giggled then kept walking, one of his fellow soldiers would nudge him and tell him who she was. Clementine took up a position about half way between the forest and city on the open plain.

"HO! Are you a challenger?" A deep voice called from the trees. Suddenly over 100 beastmen casually walked out from the tree line. Clementine offered a sarcastic bow to the small army.

"Indeed! I am here to teach you animals proper fear when dealing with humanity!" She cackled and put her mask on and pulled out her stilettos. The leader of the beastmen army rose his hand in the air.

"I like you human! I will use you as my pet!" A large goatman said, his troops burst out into laughter. Clementine used this time to quickly inspect them all, none of these beastmen had any magical gear on, only the one talking had enhanced gear, but it was low quality, not from the store.

"So how you wanna do this? All of you at once sounds fun!" Clementine said smiling underneath her mask. The Bafolk looked back to his troops who all laughed.

"No, as I plan on making you my personal pet, I will have to break that will of yours first so you will obey me!" He said cracking his knuckles and taking a fighter's stance.

"A Beastman monk? Never heard of that before." The Bafolk laughed in a bleating tone.

"Our tribe leader has been teaching us many different ways to grow stronger... learning a "fighting style" was one, don't worry I will take you to him so you can see how wonderful he is after I have housebroken you, you faintly smell of urine!" Again the 100 demihuman army laughed. Clementine scowled beneath her mask.

"Aspect of the beast" He said as a large red mark on his chest glowed, his muscles burst with doubled strength, his legs also gained more mass, but despite this huge growth in form, the Bafolk was lightly hopping on his feet in an impressive display of dexterity much like the way a boxer would use "fancy footwork" during a bout. Clementine fired off both of her chains form her arms, but the Bafolk bobbed and weaved between them moving his massive form back and forth with such speed as he was also running full force at Clementine. Before she could retract the chains she was struck hard in the face.

"Guh!" She cried out as her body flew through the air, but even as she was mid-air, the towering form of the Beastman appeared beside her, and with another powerful punch drove Clementine hard into the earth with a loud exploding sound. The impact shot up dirt as Clementine tried to recover, another follow-up strike was coming at her, she rolled to the side getting launched into the air from the force of the punch from the Beastman. Using several backflips to regain her balance and put some distance between her and this Beastman, she landed in her "classic" pose of hips up and upper body lowered, like a cat ready to pounce. She activated the [INVISABILY] on her cloak. This surprised the Beastman.

"Humph! Running away?" He taunted, assuming she was fleeing. His army tried to warn him that she was right behind him but it was too late. She rammed both of her stilettos into his back and activated [FIREBALL] in both of them. The explosion was so fierce and bright that it lit up the night sky. The Beastmen had to shield their eyes from the sudden bright light. All that was left was a smoking crater and two burning goat legs falling over. Clementine spun her stilettos in her hands menacingly turning to meet the Beastmen army.

"Who's next?" She asked. The question was rhetorical but another large Demihuman stepped up.

"I will fight you! I respected Tiilio's mind, but to be honest I am stronger than he was, I will kill you now human." A large ape-man said whose fur was pure white as two symbols on his arms began to glow and he took the same fighting stance as the Bafolk had. He offered her a slight bow then charged at her with such speed she almost lost track of him, almost. She managed to dodge his three combo punch, but his fourth strike, a kick, was unexpected and he caught Clementine under the chin, her mask was knocked off and she felt a huge drop of power as soon as it left her face.

"It's over!" The ape-man yelled as he jumped at Clementine, she had just landed onto her back when she saw the white ape-man jumping at her with the intent of landing a finishing jumping punch. But as he flew toward the downed woman two chains flicked out, he dodged one but the other caught him across the mouth, shattering his front row of teeth. The hit sent him flying back and screaming in pain as he held his mouth. When he regained himself he looked to where Clementine had been but she was already leaping at him with a sadistic look on her face, she swung the chains out again, hitting the ape-man in his mouth a second time, shattering the rest of his teeth and lower jaw. He screamed and fell onto his back holding his broken jaw.

"TASTE THE CHAIN!" She screamed as she brought the chains down onto his bloody open mouth."Taste the chain" she yelled, again and again, long after he was incapable of tasting anything. The bloody headless body spasmed a few times before lying still. She spun to look at the crowd.

"NEXT!" She cried out. She was panting and heaving with a look that was bordering on ecstasy. She hadn't been hit in such a long time... she had been "woken up". And before another challenger could step up she was using [FLOW ACCELERATION] and became too fast for them to track. In the center of their army, shrieking cries of joy could be heard as her chains and stilettos flew around in all directions felling Beastman with each attack.

Clementine leaped onto one beastman and wrapped her legs around his head shoving her crotch into his face as she squealed with delight, she then brought both her pointed weapons down into his eyes before flipping off of him and jumping high into the air, as she flipped backward she cast [ABILITY BOOST] and landed onto the shoulders of a unsuspecting beastman, she drove the heel of her boot into his skull, caving it in before jumped into the thick of the army. She whipped her chains out in a huge 180-degree arc in front of her. The scattered limbs and torsos from that attack were still raining down on the ground as she ran through the field of gore and blood.

"Get her!" One beastman yelled futility seconds before a spiked mace smashed his face into nothingness. Clementine laughed at the top of her voice as she spun around in circles and extended her chains, letting them whip around in a 360 radius. This last attack was enough to kill all but three beastmen. She stopped and retracted the chains, she was breathing heavy and was in the middle of a climax, she fell to her knees panting, then looked up menacingly at the three remaining beast-men, her face was flush red as she was really enjoying this, even more than when she killed all those people in Debone, that felt like work, this was FUN!

"She has to be tired right?" One asked as he readied himself to fight.

"No, look at her, she is really enjoying this!" A Bafolk cried in terror and tried to run. There was a flash of silver and he fell face first with a stiletto sticking out from the back of his head. Knowing that retreat was impossible the final two beastmen approached Clementine. She ran past them and pulled out the stiletto from the head of the fleeing Bafolk, the two last Beastmen fell dead, not even seeing the move that killed them.

As she returned to the wall some were applauding her amazing feat of strength, most stood motionless, not sure what they had just seen. She wove to have the gate opened and it was.

"Lady Quintia! That... that was amazing!" Cedri cried as she entered the gate.

"Yeah, I had fun out there!" She said wiping some blood from her mouth. The cleric shook his head.

"If you call that fun... um, do you require healing?" He asked. She shook her head.

"I never get a chance to get punched anymore, I'd like to savor this feeling." She said laughing and rubbing her chin. Returning to her borrowed house she wove goodbye, to clean up and rest. After that fun time she just had, she was physically tired, she had gone all out in that fight, she thought about going back to bed but as she was still flush with adrenaline, sleeping would prove impossible for the next hour anyway. Plus the thought of revisiting "that room" in her sleep did not appeal to her as well. After cleaning herself off of beastman blood she decided to walk around this city for a bit to see if she could find anything worth reporting.


	17. Training

Ridda paced back and forth in her nice room. It had been two days since she joined Momon's team and she was getting anxious, but a sudden knock on the door made her forget her worries and sprint over to open, unfortunately, the large warrior she had hoped would be there, was not. It was his partner, the beautiful princess, Nabe and she looked very annoyed.

"Lo... Mister Momon has asked that I evaluate your magical powers and offer advice where I can." She said in a cold voice, Ridda knew this woman hated her, but she did not care, if she was willing to teach Ridda about magic, she would happily listen. She motioned for Ridda to follow. Ridda was wearing her black "Evileye" suit and charms only, she didn't like walking around in that heavy armor nor could she actually wield Wave Crasher, her mother's sword. So she just stuck with her trinkets.

"You can use [FLY]?" Nabe asked Ridda, the young girl nodded. Nabe turned and flew up into the air, Ridda followed her until they landed outside the city in a nice grass field away from anyone who would watch them.

"Okay so for starts, let's see your spells, show me all your spells that you can cast," Nabe ordered. Ridda nodded.

"My main spell uses my ability to conjure metal from thin air..." Ridda said as she produced several blades from the air.

"And what material are they made of?" Ridda blinked, she had never thought about what they were made of, she looked closely at it.

"Steel... I guess?" Ridda said doubtfully. She tossed one over to Nabe. She looked at it and nodded.

"Try another metal, try to make a blade from gold." Ridda thought for a second and focused, she felt a huge depletion of mana, but a golden blade did appear, her eyeshot wide with amazement. It had used six times the amount of mana, but she made a golden blade! Nabe seemed very pleased.

"Seems your talent isn't trash, after all, even if you can't fight, you will always have gold to spend." She said nodding. Wait had that been a compliment?

"Okay now size, how big can you make a normal blade?" Ridda focused and tried to make a large blade, and suddenly a huge blade, the length of a jousting lance appeared, but thinner than one would be. Again Ridda was shocked she could do this.

"Okay so now show me how you use your magic." Nabe said doing a "bring it on" motion with her hand.

"You want me to attack you?" Ridda asked to make sure, Nabe nodded. Ridda focused again and cast [BLADE STORM]. At once 100 steel daggers flew at Nabe as another 100 flew out in a sphear around Ridda. Nabe easily smacked the blades out of the air. Ridda was amazed at how fast she moved.

"I can also do this..." She said as she cast [SPIKED BODY SUITS] and spiked metal armor attacked itself to Nabe and Ridda. Nabe seemed unimpressed.

"Trash spell... don't use this one, you're mana pool is far too small to waste on bad spells like this." Naba rebuked the young caster. Ridda seemed like her feelings were hurt, she was rather proud of that spell.

"Next!" Nabe barked out snapping her out of her bad mood.

"Um... that's it, those are the only spells I know." She admitted, Nabe clicked her tongue. She was clearly disappointed.

"What about that big one? Fire that at me..." Nabe commanded. Ridda thought then focused again, she fired a huge steel spike at Nabe, it's speed was faster than the small ones she made would be. Nabe easily sidestepped the projectile. The words [METAL SPEAR] appeared in her head... she had just learned a new spell!

"I think that was called [METAL SPEAR] it was a different spell!" Ridda exclaimed happily. And it took the same amount of mana to cast as [BLADE STORM].

"Okay not bad, now try to make a lance-like that out of... adamantite!" Nabe ordered as she snapped her fingers. Ridda thought about what she said, focused and... blackness.

"Your mana pool is pathetic..." Nabe's voice said waking up Ridda. She was laying on her back and felt sick and drained, she had overextended her mana usage, but next to Naba was a large adamantite spear. Ridda tried to speak but fell unconscious once again.

"She can create any kind of metal she wants?" Ainz, as Momon, asked Nabe. Nabe nodded and showed him the gold blade and adamantite spear, they remained forever even after she ran out of mana, that was the important part. He stroked his chin as he thought.

"If we fix her with nothing but mana pool items... she could literally create gold for us nonstop " The wicked thought of chaining her up in a mana sustaining room and forcing her to produce gold and other metals all day long sprang into his mind.

"She would make a nice gold creating a slave," Nabe said nodding, she too was thinking of this usefulness.

"She is unconscious right now, locking her up inside Nazarick would be easy, should I go do this?" Nabe asked Ainz shook his head no.

"We still need her to buy stuff for us in the store with that card she has... once we have bought out that store and gotten the world item from her, I don't see a reason not to force her to make valuable metals all day for me," Ainz said nodding at how valuable this girl would be over the course of her subjugated life.

"Very well, I shall continue to pretend to like her until such a time arrives," Nabe said with a smile. Ainz was shocked to hear her even say that much.

"Really? You won't threaten to crush her? Or call her a bug?" Ainz was surprised by this character growth of his caster companion. Nabe shook her head.

"No, as she is an official member of this team, and a future use to Nazarick... I will treat her as such." She said coldly but with a smile. Nabe liked to see the cruel side of her master come out every now and again. But Ainz seemed to be thinking about something.

"An official member of our team you say? I guess she is... isn't she?" Ainz said softly thinking again. Nabe sat in silence as Ainz pondered something.

"Anyway, go give her this." He put his hand into his own personal space and took out a blue potion. It was a stamina health potion that The Fortress of Carne produced, and as of late he even added a slight mana regenerative property to the potion, though this did not change its color. Nabe did as instructed.

Ridda opened her eyes, her head was killing her and she felt sick, as soon as her eyes focused someone was thrusting a blue potion in her face.

"Drink this." The voice ordered. Ridda did as instructed and felt a little better. She was still light-headed and did not feel well.

"Your training is done for today, rest up so we can train again when you are ready," Nabe said in a cold voice taking away the empty glass vial. Ridda nodded and went back to sleep. She dreamt that she and her two elf sister were talking with Alis and Nero, it was a family dinner, one that they would enjoy every night. Learcue would ask for some more wine and Nero would tell her to go easy on it. Ekisa would have meat shoved into her mouth but would still try and talk. Alis just looked at the children with love... until a black blade came from her chest. Suddenly she was no longer in that warm loving room, instead, a demon warrior with short brown hair and an evil sword was stabbing her mother. Ridda tried to scream but nothing would escape her mouth. Even as the evil woman threw her mother's lifeless corpse to the side and rose the weapon above her head, ready to strike Ridda down, she could not scream, she just did not have the strength... she was weak, she felt weak... then the woman brought the blade down onto her.

Ridda's eyeshot awake, she was overly tired but rested. She could tell she had been out for some time by how hungry she was, luckily there was food next to her and she devoured it. Feeling better after she ate she got up and... and ran to the bathroom as fast as she could!

"Feeling better?" Nabe asked as Ridda exited her room, she had been waiting for her. Ridda nodded.

"Good, we have more training to do," Nabe said and Ridda simply followed her to the place they had trained at earlier.

"Alright, I want to see how far you can create your metal," Nabe said. Ridda looked confused. Nabe pointed to the area in front of her, they were about 20 yards away.

"Create a blade right here." Ridda looked at the area she was pointing and a metal blade popped up right where she was pointing at her feet, 20 yards away. Nabe seemed pleased.

"Making your blades shoot out forward is alright, but can easily be blocked," Nabe said, the memory of Evileye using her walls to block her own blades came to mind.

"But if you can make your blades appear from above, or below, they won't be so easy to block, so I want you to materialize your blades in the air and shoot them down at me. Ridda did as commanded, and 200 blades appeared about 8 feet in the air and shot down with deadly force, a word popped up in her head [RAIN OF BLADES] once again she'd learned a new spell!

"Alright, make the big ones appear now, from the ground," Naba said. Ridda put her hands to the earth and concentrated, a new spell was coming but it was draining all her mana, she didn't stop, she poured all her mana into the ground, amazingly the entire earth around Ridda sprang up with huge metal spikes taller than she was. She had created a 360-degree radius of spikes about 20 yards in diameter around her. She fell to the ground exhausted and spent. But the words [METAL EARTH] came to mind, another spell, but one she would only use sparingly. Nabe saw her collapse and shook her head.

"Your mana reserves really are pathetic aren't they?" The older caster said. Ridda did no respond.

"It's fine, two new spells back to back like that is not bad." Ridda was shocked to hear praise again from this woman that hated her.

"We'll go back, no use having you pass out again on u..." Was all Ridda heard before falling face-first unconscious again. Nabe could only shake her head at how useless this girl was, other than that card she had. She just walked around the spiked ground and picked Ridda up, taking her back to her room.

"Passed out again?" Ainz asked he was keeping an eye on their training in secret.

"We really should give her something that will increase her mana, if we plan on using her that is," Nabe said walking into the nice hotel room that they had rented for Ridda. Ainz shook his head.

"No, she will just be our ticket to the world item and then used up till she can no longer produce metals for me." I don't see the need to use resources on her." Nabe just shrugged.

"Speaking of which... when do you plan on going to the Dragon Kingdom?" Nabe asked knowing that was the next venture.

"Soon, we have an agent there already undercover as an adventurer from the empire. She's reported that she can't find the store in the capital city that they control. So plans to spread out into Beastman controlled territories are being made. Nabe wondered just what kind of plan her master was thinking up.

"Do you plan on saving the Dragon Kingdoms?" Nabe asked Ainz just shrugged.

"If they had asked for my help, I would have. But, for whatever reason, they ignored us, even after I saved The Holy Kingdom... so if they are that stubborn to ask for help, I see no reason to save them, let the Beastman destroy The Draconic Kingdoms. Then, the very second they even look at The Baharuth Empire, they will be met with a force of such destruction they will regret thinking of messing with a vassal state of Nazarick." The plan sounded good.

"Until then our agent will win them over by protecting them until we arrive." Then he looked at Nabe as she spoke up.

"What if they object to you coming to their kingdom?" Nabe asked. Ainz shook his head.

"I will neither be asking nor announcing my arrival, I will show up and they may make of that as they may, if they are openly hostile, well... it won't go well for them," Ainz said chuckling. Either way, he planned on taking over the entire area to search for this "guild store", what the current residence thought of this plan did not concern him at all.

"Anyway, stay here and look after her, I'll be headed back to Nazarick," Ainz stated then stood up and cast [GREATER TELEPORTATION]. He appeared in the area they had made for "teleporting to Nazarick" an extra wing that housed recently painted portraits of his friends and former guildmates, but as he approached the gallery room he could her Albedo scolding someone. He tried to listen in on what the problem was.

"I don't CARE what your superior said, I am telling YOU right NOW, do not EVER clean this portrait again? Do you understand me, maid?" Albedo put special emphasis on the word "maid" to let this woman know she was below her. This was highly unlike Albedo so Ainz looked into the room. Albedo was standing in front of a portrait of Tabula Smaragdina, her creator. Had the maid made a mistake when cleaning the portrait Ainz thought. The maid bent down to pick up her rag but Albedo slapped the rags from her hand. The maid yelped in surprise.

"Tell me you understand!" Albedo commanded, the maid bowed deeply trembling in fear.

"Yes Lady Albedo, I will not clean the picture of Lord Tabula Smaragdina ever again, as you say." She said bowing again. Ainz thought this was highly suspicious, but the feelings of the floor guardians, when it came to their creators, could be hard to control, as Emperor Jircniv discovered with young Mare not long ago. The maid excused herself and ran out of the room, she was in such a hurry she forgot to bow to Ainz as she passed him. Ainz frowned inwardly and walked into the gallery. There he saw a very angry succubus, but as soon as she saw him all traces of contempt were gone, her face beamed with a bright smile and she graciously walked over to him and bowed.

"What was all that about just now Albedo?" Ainz asked, she just shook her head and waved her hand as if it was nothing.

"I was just instructing the human maid how she is not fit to clean these portraits as she is a lowly human, not made of Nazarick, but she understands now." Albedo smiled. It displeased Ainz to hear that Tuare was thought of so little around Nazarick. But he let it go.

"Just take it easy on her? If not for my sake, then for Seba's sake?" Albedo bowed.

"Of course Lord Ainz, I will do as you command!" She sounded honest enough.

"Alright, well, where are we on preparations to go to the Draconic Kingdom?" Ainz asked. Albedo smiled and walked behind her lord as she spoke.

"Our agent in The Holy Kingdom has finished her operations there and we are sending her to back up her partner in The Draconic Kingdom. Ainz nodded, he had no idea what she was talking about, but to admit that would be fatal!

"I see, yes, good... I'm glad you are carrying out my plans perfectly." Albedo's face became red and she put her hands to her cheeks she was breathing heavy and smiling.

"Of course Lord Ainz! My only goal is to be as useful to you...in any way...in ANY way, Lord Ainz!" She said in a very seductive tone. He walked on as if he hadn't noticed the obvious advances she was making. As he ignored her she pouted a tad but did not let it show.

"Alright, when we discover something of worth we will move, until then have our agents work their way to other former Draconic Cities that the Beastmen now control, that shop could have appeared in one of those cities.

"Are just two agents okay?" Albedo asked.

"True, we may be able to cover more ground... but I don't want to send any guardians just yet," Ainz said thinking.

"Then shall I mobilize the combat maids?" Ainz nodded at Albedo's question.

"Yes, this will give them good real-world experience, send all the maid but Entoma, as I do not want to risk losing the world item that she has." Albedo bowed and cast several [MESSAGE] spells. And soon Yuri, Shizu, Solution, and Lupusrgina were gathered.

"I want you to support out two agents in The Draconic Kingdom in finding the guild store, use any means necessary to locate this store, we suspect it may be in a city once controlled by the Draconic Kingdom but now in the hands of the Beastmen. Yuri and Solution, you will search the eastern region and cities, while C9 Delta and Lupusregina will take the western area and cities, our agents there will be searching the center of the country and lending aid in defeating the Beastmen as they search its dense forests. As the conflict with the Beastmen is unavoidable, I will allow you to engage at will as well as fight without restraint. After we have narrowed down the search Narberal and myself as Momon the adventurer will then come to wrap up the campaign. " Ainz ordered, they all bowed and walked to the [GATE] room to be sent on their mission.


	18. The Assault on the Beastmen begins

PART ONE: Lupusregina Beta and CZ2128 Delta

Lupurgina was smiling more than usual. She was really looking forward to this. Shizu, however, looked as bored as usual.

"What's the matter Shizu? You're quite~su." Lupusregina asked.

"I was just thinking, why can't we go into this shop?" C9 asked. Lupusregina thought for a second.

"Don't know, but Lord Ainz stressed not too." She shrugged.

"Yeah but, how will we know what it is without checking inside first?" Lupusregina was shocked, she hadn't even thought of that, she just assumed there would be a big sigh on it, but if there wasn't... this was a problem.

"Well, I doubt we'll be lucky enough to just come across it, we'll probably just question the first Beastman we find who is in good gear." Shizu seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Okay, there is the first city we have to search for." The robot girl pointed to some brown gates off in the distance, a giant hole could be seen at the far end of it, there were no guards, the Beastmen had no reason to be alert.

"Okay, I'll go check it out, support me if I get caugth~su," Lupusregina said as she vanished, Shizu nodded and pulled out her magic gun and opened up the scope, she could see zoomed in. There were two Beastmen walking around, they seemed to be looking for something.

"I thought I smelled something over here." One said to the other. The Snakeman nodded who was behind him hissed.

"There! I can sense heat from..." He began.

"Yeah? where?" The Bafolk Beastman asked, but there was no response. The Goatman turned round just as a fist took his head clean off. Lupusregina giggled as she looked them over.

"Hmm, guess I should check out their gear before killing them, huh?" But these were wearing nothing more than normal leather armor. She gave a wave to Shizu before vanishing and running into the hole in the wall.

"She ran around and when she saw a Beastman she'd scope his gear, then kill him.

"Damn, I was hoping at least one of them would have something on him." Lupusregina thought to herself.

"Lupu, many Beastman coming from where we were, careful." Lupusregina ran to see this group and noticed something.

"Shizu, you see that?"

"Yes, they seem to be transporting a large amount of gold and expensive-looking objects." Her partner answered.

"Perfect~su! We can follow them, probably going straight to it!" She chuckled, she really wanted to be the team that found the store. Shizu confirmed the idea. So they tailed the Beastmen. But as they traveled they came upon another group of Beastmen, but the attitude was not calm.

"Stay back you guys, we have treasure for The Chief." One warned but the other group chuckled.

"Yeah figured as much, but we want first dibs and the ones who bring the most gold wins..." One Beastman said.

"This is stupid, you're going to fight us over that?" The one with the loot spat.

"I know we all agreed to play nice... but this one time won't matter." The Monkey looking one said.

"Yeah, hate to do this to you guys, but there's too much at stake." A Horsehead demihuman said as they moved into position to square off.

"Guh! Not good, these guys are gonna kill each other and I'll have no one to follow!" She thought to herself then she got an idea.

"Hey guys! Instead of fighting, how about we split what we have with you and we all just walk away, happy and alive ~su!" A somewhat feminine but still very deep voice called out from somewhere in the back of the group with treasure. All the treasure Demihumans looks around confused, but the other group was talking.

"Alright fine, give us half and we can uh "stay friends". Hell, we'll even tell The Chief you pointed us out to a good spot and that's where we got it, so you'll at least get some credit too!" The leader of the group said, they all nodded. While giving up half of their loot didn't sound great, they were outnumbered, so this wasn't such a bad idea after all. So with that, they divided up the stash and went in basically the same direction, one Beastman could be heard saying they were just paying the other group to hold their stuff for them, it seemed they were feeling better about the deal and the more they talked along the way the more the two groups merged into one, deciding to just say they all had found all of the treasure, as it basically was the same anyway.

Lupusregina rolled her eyes at how easy that had been to convince them not to fight. Anyway, things were back on track so it was all fine she smiled at thought of getting her head pat this time.

"Lupusregina I was thinking..." CZ's voice said in her head.

"... we will get head pats for this." She said in the most cheerful tone she could, which was plain.

"Yup! I was just thinking that too! Aura looked so happy." Lupusregina said thinking of that time she had been scolded instead of awarded.

"Okay, let do this." She couldn't see it but she felt that Shizu was giving a "thumbs up."

"What the hell is that smell?" A Beastman who sniffed the air asked, this caused others to stop and start to smell the air.

"Yeah, I was gonna say... a female right?" This word made them all stop. There were only males here, they immediately became suspicious.

"A... wolf?" Those aren't around these parts, right?" One asked in a low voice.

"Damnit, I got too close to them, my scent." Lupusregina frowned. They all surrounded the pile of gold and goods.

"Come out little doggie girl, we just wanna pet you!" A Goatman said bleating a chuckle but still staying on alert. Suddenly a human-looking girl with braids appeared with her hands up. They were all shocked to see her appear like that but soon began smiling.

"What's a Skinwalker doing way out here? And a female one at that!" A Monkeyman asked, he was serious, wolves that could turn into a human form were a strong and rare breed of Demihuman called Skinwalkers among the Beastman tribes. The "Skinwalker" woman just shrugged with a smile.

"I dunno, I just got lost out here, went for a skin walk, or uh whatever and then you guys came to save me!" She said throwing up her hands like she was happy. They looked at one another, was she telling the truth?

"Alright, we'll believe you, but as of now you are our prisoner!" The leader commanded. Lupusregina nodded.

"Alright fine, so long as you guys don't try anything funny, I'll uh, be your prisoner." She said walking toward them with her hands up. They put up their guard, Skinwalkers were known to attack other Demihumans, and vastly out-powered any of them. But the cute girl just jumped up on the pile of treasure with a little "Hup!" and sat cross-legged at the peak of the mound of gold.

"You will make a fine bride for our chief, we would never spoil one such as you!" They all nodded and put their hands to their chests.

"Yes, we pledge to protect!" They all cried out!

"Lupu? What are you doing?" Shizu's voice asked in a calm tone.

"Alright guys, let's go!" She said with a big smile pointing forward. They cheered and picked up the pace, now with a cute girl to urge them on to go faster!

Yuri Alpha and Solution Epsilon

"Hurry up Solution!" Yuri commanded adjusting her glasses. A placid blonde walked up behind her.

"I'm made for stealth not speed, you need to slow down Yuri." She said catching up, Yuri nodded, she was the faster of the two and should keep that in mind as she was going full speed.

"Sorry Solution, I just want to find this place." Her sister patted her back as in to say "I get it, big sis". The two got along very well despite their differences in "tastes."

"I think we are in the worst position to find the store however as there are only two cities to check, and we've been running through the trees at full speed and not a single Demihuman..." Yuri sounded frustrated they could not find someone to question.

"Yes, we were told to expect this whole area to be crawling with Beastmen, but we haven't seen a single one." Solution said in agreement. So the two ran again, this time Yuri keeping in step with Solution. They would fan out a bit to cover more ground, but even as they came upon their first city there was no one to be seen. They walked around the street opening doors and looking inside, they were told not to enter, but just looking inside should be okay to confirm a possible storefront. They would check a door then shake their heads in a no fashion. Solution would scowl.

They went down, street by street but found nothing, not even bodies of any kind, even if they were eaten, there would be SOMETHING left behind, one would think. It was dark out but this was not a problem for either of them. Suddenly Solution held up her hand in a "stop now!" motion, Yuri froze, she saw Solution was preparing for an attack against them, but Yuri had no idea whereas she had not detected anything. Solution instinctively shoved Yuri to the side as a barrage of magic fell upon that area. Fire exploded, lightning crackled and the whole area was enveloped in a freezing wind.

"Not bad humans!" A voice came from up top a building. The maids looked up to see they were surrounded, there were beastmen of all kinds standing up from the rooftops, it would seem their approach was noted after all and they all laid flat on the roofs to stay undetected.

The Beastmen all raised different looking wands and cast several spells again.[GRAND FIREBALL] [DRAGON LIGHTNING] [ELECTROSPHERE] more elemental 3rd and 4th tier spells rained down on the two. They were both closed ranged fighters, this particular fight heavily out favored them.

"We walked right into their trap!" Yuri rebuked herself, she had been in too much a rush to find the store that she had underestimated her enemies, luckily the two had high elemental damage so they could take most of what was being thrown their way, it was just very annoying is all.

"You okay Solution?" Yuri was worried about her as most of her defense lay in physical resistance, magic could wound Solution. Solution cast several defensive spells to increase her magic damage using scrolls and nodded, she was fine.

"On three then?" Yuri asked, but it was more of a statement. Her blonde sister nodded.

"One..."

"Two...". Yuri began running at Solution full speed. Solution copied this and the two ran at one another as fast as they could.

"Three!" She exclaimed as the two sisters sprang at one another then kicked off teacher's feet in mid-air giving them a speed boost and shooting them off one another in diagonal arcs, within a second they were on the rooftops and attacking the ranged casters. Both sisters recognized immediately that these wands were exactly what they were looking for, these Demihumans had been shopping. So they just subdued most of them and kept the killing to a minimum as possible. They would move from the rooftops with such speed and efficiency that not a single Beastman got off another cast.

"We got them all?" Yuri asked looking around for anyone trying to sneak off.

"No." A males voice said as a hulking figure suddenly appeared behind Yuri. No, he did not appear, he had just run up behind her. Too fast to make out. Yuri's mouth opened to say something when a giant ice blade slashed at her neck, Yuri's head came off in one attack.

"Too easy!" The Beastman said, he had a black cape, the inside of it glowed red and black, off and on. His giant sword looked to be a huge blade of ice, his boots seemed to be in a constant state of motion, even as he stood still, they were blurry. He was wearing some kind of hood, so they could not make out his species of Demihuman. Before Solution could say anything, she was impaled through the chest.

"Icy explosion!" He said then just as it sounded, there was an explosion of ice and Solutions upper body ripped in half. He chuckled and turned to admire his work, However, a headless body was already throwing a barrage of punches at him, he cried out as he felt a rain of fists come down on him so hard he figured he was dead, but lucky for him Yuri was holding back, not wanting to kill this one. Then from behind him, a blue fluid wrapped all around his arms and chest and picked him off the ground, his feet ran at amazingly fast speed, but in the air, they were useless and just looked silly. Solution wrapped another blue blob around his mouth so he could not scream.

"Okay, little one, where did you and your men get this stuff?" She raised her fist in the air, he would talk or he would die. Solution removed her cover on his face.

"I don't know, The Chief's been sending this stuff around lately, just recently... I have no idea where he got it, honestly, don't care as he gave me some great things for my bravery during the second invasion of this city I now hold!" Yuri nodded to Solution who sucked his body up into hers, he was gone without a trace.

"We'll question his troops for the next hour, then you can spit him out and we'll see if he has anything more to tell us," Yuri said once again adjusting her glasses, Solution smiled, then they set about doing the grueling work of mass interrogation for the next hour.

Clementine and Zesshi

"You look terrible," Zesshi said looking at her partner who'd only been apart from her for two days. Clementine glared, she was feeling terrible as well, the dreams had been getting worse and more real as time went on, she was now thinking about how to spend as little time sleeping as possible.

"Mind your own business, elf." Clementine spat. Zesshi looked very put off.

"Say that again, and I'll make sure to end you." She said calmly.

"Don't get all high and mighty on me, you really think I wasn't given something to "deal with you" if you somehow went rogue?" Clementine said without a hint of falsehood to it. Zesshi looked at her in surprise then frowned. If she spoke the truth then that meant they trusted her more, whatever this "bug room" is, the alliance it instilled was ironclad.

"Just... anyway, what have you learned here in the two days you've been here," Zesshi asked still a little sour about Clementine's remark.

"Well for one, Beastmen are really weak, and there is no store in this city, I've done a pretty good lookin', and I didn't see a single clue to it being here." Zesshi nodded, she figured as much, as how willing they were to accept help still from the outside.

"So you know, we are not in this search alone, also your old friend in the black armor will be showing up, try not to piss yourself?" The revenge for the elf remark was hers! Clementine just pulled her mask down and walked off toward the tree line in bitter silence.

"We got a long way to cover, let's go." She finally said coldly, Zesshi walked behind her pulling up her matching black hood and cloak. The two traveled in silence, opting to avoid any conflicts, but thanks to Clementine's recent slaughter, Beastmen seemed to be withdrawing a bit deeper into the brush.

Clementine missed a jump and slid to the ground and hit hard, she spat out some blood as she had bit her tongue. Zesshi looked down at her in annoyance.

Clementine was feeling sleep-deprived, she was drinking the stamina potions at an alarming rate now, she would somehow need to get some kind of sleep soon and food, but the thought of either... Zesshi let out a loud sigh and stopped under a large tree, Clementine crawled to her feet coughing.

"I can't have you like this... here." Zesshi took off a ring and held it out to Clementine.

"Eh? What will this do?" She asked taking it and removing her glove so she could put it on.

"You'll know soon as you put it on." And she was right, as soon as she put the ring on all her hunger and stomach pains vanished, she felt like she had the best night's sleep of her life, for a month straight.

"What... I feel fine now! Like, I feel great!" She said jumping around to test her recovered stamina and pep.

"That ring cost me... it cost me a lot, and I am lending it to you," Zesshi said.

"I'll trade you," Clementine said showing her a ring of her own, it looked simply amazing, it was a series of rare metals woven to look like bones and a skull that had a black gem in the center.

"What is that?" Zesshi asked amazed, it was on a whole other level than any of her trinkets were.

"This is my "trump card", I don't think you will turn on us, and... this ring means so much to me." Tears welled up in her eyes. This seemed a bit backhanded to be pulling against their masters however, even Clementine knew this and was terrified, Zessh shook her head.

"Tell you what, you keep that ring, for now, and if we find this guild store first, I'll let you keep it. As a reward, or whatever." She flipped her hair in a very unZesshi like manner.

"Zesshi, I think I might be in love with you now," Clementine said with a giggle.

"Sorry Clem, you're not exactly my type," Zesshi said wistfully, thinking of a young boy in a cute dress.

"Eh well just to warn you, I've never taken "no" for an answer." She said smiling and sticking her tongue out at her in a cute manner. Zesshi just rolled her eyes.

"Can we get on with it?" She asked jumping up into the treetops. Clementine looked at her jumping away.

"She actually is kinda cute..." She giggled then followed her jumping from tree to tree to gain height.

Ridda and Nabe

"I hate her so much!" Ridda screamed at the top of her lungs and hurled a giant lance through the air, it landed right on the mark and very far away, she could shoot her metal blades and spikes out much faster now than she could, also she seemed to be able to go longer as well. In the past few days of training, she felt like she had reached a new level of power.

"Alright good, use that hate, but don't let it blind you... also I want you to do something for me," Nabe said picking up the spear that Ridda had just fired off.

"What's that?" She asked, but to answer her the spear was flying at her. Ridda screamed and dove out the way, but Nabe clicked her tongue.

"Listen Lady bu... Lady! You are a caster unless you have [FLY] currently on, you must not use your agility to dodge attacks." She rebuked.

"Okay well, then what?" She asked in frustration and annoyance that she had technically just tried to kill her.

"Use your metal to create a wall or shield or something, it's why I don't like your suit spell, this will be a better use of your very limited mana, cover is invaluable to a ranged fighter, plus your allies can also use this and it will cost less mana than suiting everyone up with spiked armor,"Nabe explained. Ridda thought for a second, now that she said it out loud this did make some sense. She focused and summoned a wall of metal like she'd seen Evileye do in their fight. It was kinda thin, but sturdy still and it deflected Nabe's next thrown attack.

[METAL WALL]. the name appeared in her head, again she felt just a little better and more skilled than before. But she was reaching her limit and Nabe called off the training.

"You're using your natural talent in good ways, You may become a good caster yet." She said in a forced smile.

"Sir Momon told you to be nice to me didn't he?" She asked, Nabe was too out of character today, Nabe just nodded.

"Oh um by the way..." Ridda sked.

"Yes?"

"What was that thing Sir Momon asked me to make... "prismatic ore," I think he called it?" Nabe chuckled.

"Don't worry, just be glad you can't make any kind of metals that don't exist here in this world." Ridda thought she had chosen some odd words but some was odder still.

"Why should I be glad about this?" Nabe bit her lip, she had spoken far too much once more!

"Uh, just that it might have put a lot of strain on you is all, and it might be too much yet." She recovered pretty well she thought.

"Just be sure to get a lot of rest tonight, we're gonna head out to look for the store soon, so be ready to go whenever we say," Nabe said in a flat tone. Ridda nodded and went to her room to clean up and take a nap.


	19. Battle for The Baharuth Empire

It was chaos no matter where Jicniv could see, Beastmen had suddenly appeared in The Capital, in his very castle. Without warning and began attacking savagely.

"Red, what's going on?" He asked the ninja bodyguard. Red had just finished cutting down two Beastmen that tried to attack The Emperor.

"I don't know, but we are under attack, please stay close," Red warned, down in his courtyard Demihumans were tearing apart citizens and unaware knights.

"This is insane how are they in here?" He was staying calm but he felt the shock hadn't really set in yet.

"I have seen a [GATE] portal open up, it's possible these Demihumans somehow access to this spell, it would explain a lot actually." Demihumans using magic only members of Nazarick seemed to possess? Jircniv began running faster, he turned a corner and was met with three snarling Bafolk however their heads slid off their shoulders after a flash of silver and Red moving ahead.

"So explain why letting Biscuit kill these things is a bad idea?" Jircniv asked Red.

"He will be unable to "not kill" humans as his attacks come from an aura, if Your Majesty sent him to fight, while he'd easily win, you would have no surviving members of this capital left.

"So it can only kill indiscriminately? That's an unsettling thought." Jircniv thought to himself. It would seem they were in the clear to the basement. To the left, there was an explosion. Jircniv stopped and saw an older looking man wearing a pitch-black robe flying above the courtyard firing off [FIREBALL] spells like there was no tomorrow.

"He's probably enjoying himself, getting to use his newfound powers like this," Jircniv said causally to Red about the recently turned Litch, Fluder Paradyne.

(note: for the purposes of this story we will pretend that Fluder knelt willingly to Demiurges command to "prostrate yourself" when they very first met, meaning he is "high enough level" to resist that command, ergo he is high enough level to use the book to turn into a litch, I know this is a debate so I'm just picking a side -DDDGGG.)

"He is a litch now so emotions like joy don't really matter much, but I suppose he's pleased to at least show off a little." When people were around Fluder, he would switch to [LIGHTNING] to avoid killing the citizens, he wasn't a total monster after all.

"I'm sure he has contacted someone and sent work for help, Nazarick will be responding soon I'd imagine," Red told The Emperor calmly.

"What worries me, is that I've seen some of these Demihumans in gear that they have no business wearing," Red said looking at a wand of [FIREBALL] that was laying in the hands of a dead Snakeman.

"The store Lord Ainz was originally going to send me to?" Jircniv asked. Red silently nodded. More screams and explosions could be heard far away in the distance, this attack was happening all over it seemed. Before long they ran to the basement where Baziwood was waiting for them. As soon as he entered he closed the door and locked it.

"Where is Nimble?" Jircniv asked noting his absence, in case of emergency all members of "The Four" were to meet here along with any other important members that managed to flee to this escape tunnel.

"I haven't seen or heard from him," Baziwood answered, Jircniv frowned. They kept walking till water began to pool around their feet in the dark tunnel, Baziwood held up a torch for Jircniv and himself, Red took the lead.

"We are getting close if there is water," Baziwood noted. As they kept going the sounds of the melee began to die out from above, they were going away from the city and the castle towards the hills that hovered above the Imperial Capitals reservoir. After traveling for what seemed like miles, they exited the cave through an opening that leads to a large man-made lake. It was one of the latest projects they managed to make with the workforce borrowed from The Sorcerer Kingdom, a huge depression was built and within just one raining season, 1/4 had been filled by constant water runoff from the hills. They walked along the edge.

"I don't like running away like this..." Jircniv said biting his thumb.

"Nothing much Your Majesty could do, plus I'm sure a hoard of Death Knights will be walking in soon and cutting up those Beeastmen in a short time, ironically he was 100% correct about this as at this moment more black [GATE] portals were opening up in the capital and all around the castle and city, but what poured forth was not Beastmen but Death Knights, and the two forces clashed violently.

Many miles away in Nazarick Ainz Ooal Gown and Albedo were watching the ensuing fight through a floating mirror. The images shown were to be expected, as soon as the Death Knights showed up the tide turned dramatically. While one or two Death Knights would fall during this time it was not a huge loss. And it told Ainz there were some heavily geared elites on the battlefield.

"The Death Knights Lord Ainz has made will win this within the hour I predict." Albedo said. But Ainz was not pleased with what he saw. The Beastman attack had been so sudden, fierce and widespread that considerable damage had been done before any word of distress had even reached Nazarick. As the Hanzo who was assigned to protect Jircniv had not fallen Ainz assumed The Emperor was safe in all this. As the Dark Warriors cut down the well-armed Beastmen Albedo seemed to lose interest in the event of the mirror.

"Very good, please have health potions and healers dispatched to The Imperial Capital as soon as we are able to cull this invasion force down a bit," Ainz instructed. Albedo smiled lovely and bowed.

"Have we heard anything from the maids or agents in the Draconic Kingdom?" Ainz asked.

"Lupusregina and C9 Delta are... being escorted to the enemy Leader, Yuri and Solution have taken back a city and questioning the survivors." Ainz was very pleased to hear they were doing so well on their own with limited orders or instructions.

"And our agents?" Ainz had very little knowledge of the other one that wasn't Clementine. All he really knew was that she was a high ranking member of the Black Scripture, was strong enough to put up a fake fight with Mare and was an elf or something, he planned on sitting down and talking to this new agent that Entoma controlled through her recently acquired World Item. As all she did was sit in Nazarick and order her pawn around, Ainz saw no reason to deprive Entoma of this responsibility. Entoma bowed and wove cutely at Ainz when she noticed him looking over at her. He wove back and she giggled and snacked on a green cookie.

Someways south of this position another battle just wrapped up. There were many dead bodies left behind in her wake. Remedios walked forward with unstable power. Every few hours another group of angels would assault her she'd brush these insects away and order one of her generals that were held in the gems of her sword to deal with the pests that caused such bugs to appear. In her mind, but still very much real a smiling man stood beside her.

"They really are such fools to stand against you." He chuckled at how well his handiwork was performing.

"Why are you making me do this?" She asked within her mind to the man, her body was not hers anymore. She could only sit back in this prison cell in her own mind, and she only had this man to talk to.

"Well I want to ruin your good name first," He said holding up an index finger.

"Second, I was told to "test the true strength of The Slane Theocracy without involving Nazarick", and as Entoma loves her new toy so much, I decided you could fit this particular need.

"I don't care about any of that, you said you were gonna make me kill Ainz Ooal Gown! At least let me do that!" Demiurge just laughed.

"Sorry I was just lying to you, I do that sometimes to unimportant people." He said bowing sarcastically.

"Oh look, more of them." He said pointing out the windows that were her eyes. Remedios let the red gem fall from her swords handguard, as soon as it hit the ground it sprung forth an undead that was on fire, but did not seem to mind, the earth would burn wherever his feet touched. It's robe smoked and burned but never took any damage or got destroyed, it's burning red skull only let out fire from its mouth as it hissed at the oncoming angels and casters.

"Go, Angels!" One man cried but a wave of fire obliterated them and sent the men falling to the ground screaming as horrible burns covered their bodies. She casually crushed their necks as she walked past them.

"Then why did you make me kill that girl? She was just protecting those other girls, we didn't need to kill her like that!" Remedios spat. But again Demiurge just laughed.

"Oh, that? well... I guess you could say... my predatory instincts were triggered when I saw my prey run off like that!" He spoke clapping once, very loudly.

"Plus that caster girl with the metal... she has a very important role to play in all this. I needed her to be sent on the right path before she realized how easy her life could have been with her magic, but now she only cares about killing you and getting stronger. For a human, she isn't bad either, I expect great things from that one!" He said with a smile that made it look like he was lying to her.

"Just kill me... end this..." She cried, but she knew he would just laugh back at her in response.

"Oh look! A village! this should be fun." Demiurge said pointing to a black speck on the horizon. And with that, she changed the course a bit so that she would be descending upon this unexpecting town soon. The Fire general she summoned went to work spewing flames and moving too fast for anyone to escape. Remedios sat there and only watched the flames burn from people and houses. Soon she moved on, back to her path to the Capital of The Slane Theocracy.

"So what? You're just going to make me kill a whole city?" Remedios asked defeated.

"No no, I just want to see what kind of "big guns" they pull out when you approach the city limits, I sure hope it's more than the rabble they've been sending us." He explained scratching his chin, there was just an endless black all around them except for where they could witness her actions.

"Would you like a snack or something? This might take a while." He chuckled. Remedios only glared at him. She figured she'd use this time to ask something.

"Why... why did you do that to our Queen? She did not deserve that, you... you should have treated her like a royal captive." Demiurge looked confused, then recognition appeared on his face.

"Oh, my "Queen of Clubs... Well, I was just having a bit of fun there, sorry if I inconvenienced you in any way." He said with a smile. If she had any will left to scream she'd have used the last of it just then, but as it was she only sat in pain and silence.

"So at least tell me WHEN you will end this..." But the man in an orange suit shook his head.

"I actually don't know when you will die... see my valued family are searching for something of great importance, and I plan to offer you as a prize to the winning team... you will be given to them and your fate will belong to them, so I am rather interested in seeing which one of our girls "brings home the gold!" He said applauding the thin air. Remedios just looked back down and sighed.

"Hmm, looks like the next few hours will be boring, okay, I will keep you company until the big show," Demiurge said with a smirk. Then he turned to her and she was suddenly completely naked against the endless blackness. She glared angrily.

"I knew you would do this sooner or later." But the smile vanished and he looked disappointed.

"Please... I am a man of more refined tastes... no, I would never violate you against your will, and this time I assure you, I am not lying" He looked honest enough, not smiling or snickering, but he then produced a large and very sharp looking blade.

"No, I suddenly just grew curious, as to how you will sound while I skin you, here, where you can not die..." And a cruel smile appeared on his face.

"Also don't forget, I can just MAKE you ask me to do anything I want as well... so yes, if I did feel that particular need, it would be totally with your permission, but alas, no such luck for you, now... let's get started, we have a lot of time to kill." He said walking toward her and holding the blade at his side, it scraped the black floor making a shrill sound that hurt her ears.

Back North, above the currently burning Baharuth Empire, it's emperor is getting onto a boat with the help of his royal guard.

"Thanks, Baziwood," Jircniv said as he sat to the rear of the rather medium-sized boat, it was painted black and had no lights, it was a vessel made to drift out to the other side of the reservoir under cover of darkness. Baziwood took up the ores and rowed them silently to the safe side of the lake, by the mountains. Red looked rather nervous Jircniv noted.

"Everything fine Red?" He asked and Red nodded.

"I just hope this vessel does not fail us, as swimming is not within my job descriptions I'm afraid." The Hanzo answered truthfully.

"What, I find that surprising." jircniv exclaimed, Baziwood also looked a little surprised.

"Well I would be in no real harm, but for water, I can only run on top of it, or trudge on its bottoms slowly..." He answered. Baziwood looked shocked now.

"You can... run... on water?" He asked knowing the ninja could not lie very well. Red nodded.

"Good to know I guess."

"Yes, such information would be useful to a fellow member of, "The Four" Red said and nodded once again. Baziwood just smiled a little and shook his head.

"So we just lie low at this hidden place until we get the all-clear from Fluder right?" Baziwood asked The Emperor, Jircniv nodded solemnly, hiding away like a coward did not seem right, yet he knew he would have some kind of Empire to return to at least.

"Yes, I just hope this doesn't take forever..."Jircniv said leaning up against his seat, he was putting on a brave face, but he just wanted all this to be over with as soon as possible. And before morning would arrive the patroling Death Knights would keep the never-ending horde or randomly appearing Beastmen at bay. Small skirmishes would break out here and there, but the sheer amount of Death Knight that now infested The Empire was able to stamp them out before any more real harm could happen.


	20. Lupusregina, Queen of The Beastmen

Yuri Alpha and Solution Epsilon

"Looks like CZ and Lupu beat us there," Solution said sounding disappointed, Yuri just adjusted her glasses and they ran again to where their robot sister was directing them.

"Guess it's gonna be over then by the time we get there." Yuri knew how Lupusregina liked to cut loose sometimes. But the blonde battle maid shook her head.

"She says he is too strong for the two of them, she wants all of us to get there to fight as a team." Yuri nodded, Lupusregina was not a foolish girl, she knew her limits in a fight and if she says this guy is tough they better be ready for a fight.

"So big sister Yuri, how do you want to handle this?" Solution asked Yuri was a great planner. Yuri thought for a moment.

"First we'll locate this camp and shrine, meet up with CZ and hear how our girl on the inside wants to play this. We should be there before anything get too out of hand." Yuri explained, Solution nodded and said nothing else. As they ran at full speed through the darkness and trees.

Lupusregina Beta and CZ2128 Delta

"So, how far till we reach this "Chief" of yours?" Lupusregina asked one of the Goatmen holding up the rack that had all their goods piled on top of it, she sat on top like a queen and was being treated as such.

"Lady Lupu, we will be at the shrine within the hour!" The Goatman said somehow bowing while still running and carrying the rack of goods and her throne of gold.

"Okay well, hurry it up would ya~su!" She said in a cute voice, which her, now, fanboys yelled.

"SU~!" They seemed to like the way she talked and would cry out "SU~!" whenever she ended her sentences with her trademark saying.

"By the way, how strong is this chief of yours?" She asked curiously.

"Oh! You're gonna love him! he's the best!" Then another one spoke up behind her.

"Yeah! He's so strong that even without his incredible weapons he could beat all of us no problem!" There was a sound of general agreement from the group.

"Not bad, he can kill over forty Beastmen without any special equipment? Eh, that's not bad." But as she said this her carriage of gold stopped, she looked around a little worried she'd blown her cover somehow.

"Lady Lupu, please don't misunderstand me, when I say "all of us" I mean, literally every Beastman that in under his command... he would easily beat us all fully armed with the best gear, he would beat every last one of us naked!" He offered a bow. Lupusregina thought for a second, she could probably pull that off if she went "full wolf mode". But still, that wasn't the kind of answer she was expecting.

"Alright sounds like just the guy for me su~!" She clapped

"SU~!" they all cried out and rose their fist in unison.

"And what kind of gear is this guy wearing?" Another man spoke up eager to answer her questions, they had no idea she was probing them for battle information.

"Nobody has ever seen him use it since we were under his command long before the magic shrine appeared, it came to him at his very doorstep, a reward for his strength, and a message from our ancestors that he will rule this world!"

"So is his stuff as good as what I'm wearing?" They nodded a bit.

"While anything that was on you Lady Lupu would automatically be called divine class, I believe he said his equipment is a gift from the gods themselves, so his is better Lady Lupu, although you look amazing in that armor!" He bowed several times to show he was sorry for answering her question so honestly and blunt like.

"Huh... no kidding..." Lupusregina said as she silently cast [MESSAGE] to Shizu.

"Um, hey Shizu, change of plans, I uh, I might not be able to beat this guy, so I'm gonna go along with this wife thing, once we locate this "shrine" we'll have the rest of the team follow us." She said.

"Okay, I've already informed everyone where we are headed and they are already coming to catch up, be safe Lupu." Her sister's voice answered back. And so as promised, within the hour they came up to a large once a human city that had been reworked to look more primitive, there were large cages everywhere with people in them, most barely alive, there were signs hanging from their cages that Lupusregina could not read.

"You guys having fun? su~?" She called out and waved to the suffering humans in the cages, they gave her no notice. Her fan club burst into laughter.

"As expected! Lady Lupu is funny as well as beautiful and strong! We are so lucky to serve a Chief so strong and a, soon to be, wife of equal measure!" They all clapped in congratulations. She pumped her arms up in a fun manner.

"Su~!" They were glad they had not "missed that one".

"Okay, Lady Lupu we are here!" Another Monkeyman said as they lowered her in front of a large building, it's nice wooden doors were gone and tribal decorations of skulls and bones were all over the interior. At the end sat a man.

He was not like how she was expecting, nor did he look very "Beastman like" in fact, he looked very human with the exception of the horns. His horns were like a bull coming from his head which each had powerful-looking bells hanging from them. His long brown and reddish hair ran down to his waist and matched his short trimmed beard. He wore a green and gold robe that let golden leaves fall from it but never ran out. An amulet hung from his neck that looked like it was glowing hot, but it did not burn his chest. He wore huge matching metal gauntlets that looked kind of similar to Mare's "world Items" Avarice and Generosity, just the evil-looking one, and his did not radiate with the same kind of power Mare's gloves did. Lastly, he wore a long black dress, it was clearly meant for a woman, but oddly enough it fit his trim form, in a weird way, also it looked very powerful.

"Ah! My men tell me they found me a beautiful wife!" He exclaimed raising his hands, they all bowed, obviously, Lupusregina did not. He walked up to greet her, that was a bit odd she thought but she recognized one thing, all his gear was on the same level as her Lord's Ainz ooal Gown, and he was very high in level, who was this guy? Then he stopped when he saw her.

"But it seems they lied to me..." He said sounding a little angry, they all cowered, they could not understand how this perfect Skinwalker did not meet his...

"SHE"S MORE THAN BEAUTIFUL... you are perfection!" She said with a look of love, not lust, in his eyes. Lupusregina was taken aback a bit on how informal he was acting.

"Alright, just uh, relax there horn guy, first What is your name?" She said taking a step back. His eyes went wide with embarrassment. and he bowed as a servant would.

"I am sorry my Lady, I am Cheif of the Beastman Yelkis Olliver Sage, the living descendant of the great Minotaur Sage, as I believe he is known as." Lupusregina had no idea what he was talking about. But played along.

"Oh yeah that guy was pretty cool, um anyway, what's the deal with the store over there?" She asked noting men walking into a store holding gold and other valuables.

"Yes! My Lady will have free reign of the store if it pleases her, but it is an omen from my great ancestor giving me the power I need to rule this land. Lupusregina resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Yelkis.

"Nah, I don't need to go in there, that's your um, great ancestor's place of power, after all, I will, I will need some privacy and time to get ready for our wedding su~!"

"SU~!" the group cried out, this surprised Yelkis.

"Huh? What was that you guys did just now?" He asked.

"Ah! My Lord Yelkis Olliver Sage, our Lady Lupu here has talked in such a way, we sought to emulate her." Yelkis clapped his hands.

"I love it!" He smiled but then seemed kind of disappointed that he had missed out, they all looked at her with eyes pleading her to give him a chance to say "it".

"Oh um, so as you know I am uh Lady Lupu... su~!"

"SU~!" They all cried out at once together, he smiled, he was acting more like a child than some scary Beastman chieftain.

"Oh but of course, he snapped his fingers and three female Beastmen that looked like rabbits came out, they were dressed nicely and didn't seem to be mistreated either.

"These women are now your handmaidens Lady Lupu, please order them as you see fit." He said as they all bowed. She just nodded and let them lead the way, she was gonna enjoy getting treated like a queen until her sisters showed up to ruin this guys fun. Outside the large house was a girl sitting in the shadows with a magic sniper rifle, and she was relaying everything that was happening to the rest of the approaching maids.

Clementine and Zesshi

"Looks like we lose," Zesshi said clicking her tongue. Clementine put her hand to her ring that Zesshi gave her.

"Shame, I'm really gonna miss this little guy..." She said sadly. Zesshi sighed.

"When this is all over with... I'll ask Lady Entoma if you can work this debt off to me somehow... you need it more than I." Clementine smiled, that sealed it, she was in love with this little elf girl, well, mostly the ring, but Zesshi was kinda cute. If Zesshi knew what this act would eventually one day lead to, she would not have given up the ring. She smiled wickedly but followed Zesshi.

"Okay, so what are w gonna do now?" Clementine asked.

"Looks like they are setting up for a big fight with the leader of the Beastmen, they would like us to provide reinforcements to the maids." Clementine didn't like the idea of helping those women, something about them just rubbed her the wrong way.

"Alright, so just ignore any Beastmen we see then?" Zesshi nodded as Clementine ran behind her.

Far back in The Baharuth Empire, A blonde man in adamntite armor patrols the streets with Death Knights. Nimble looked over at the two Death Knights behind him, he wondered how much control he had over them, as in, would they obey his orders or not? These two Death Knights came to his aid when he was fighting off some Beastmen and they hadn't left his side.

"Will you obey me?" he asked they gave no response. He thought of something.

"Bow to me," They did as commanded, while the hate in their eyes for him did not leave he was confident they were ordered to obey anything he said.

"Alright, enough just keep following me then," he felt a little better knowing they would listen o him, but he still had bad feelings when he looked upon them.

He hadn't made it to the basement where he was supposed to go but he knew Red was with him, so he decided to just stay and fight the Demihuman hoards, which for now had stopped appearing. In all, he guessed somewhere close to 1000 Beastmen had been killed by around 200 Death Knights, give or take. It was a fast fight but a brutal one.

"Vassalship has it's benefits I guess right?" He said to his undead guards, they made no reply.

"Nod!" He commanded, they both nodded once. Nimble smiled a bit.

"You stack those bodies up but make sure to loot any good gear from these Beastmen, some of this stuff is weird." He commanded some knights who saluted him and did as told. As Ainz would allow The Empire to retain all the spoils form the fight, the armory of The Baharuth Empire became twenty times more powerful after this night was done.


	21. Assembly

A cold night, colder than the one before. The little girl wanted to cry, but doing so would only result in more pain. She did not understand why the men her parents sent her off with were so mean to her. Just asking for food would make them yell and hit her. but there was one that did not yell at her, and he was her guard tonight.

"Hey... you doing all right?" A voice called out to her, it was the one who did not hit her, the one that gave her food for no reason. She sniffed as her breath could be seen in the freezing air.

"Here, take this... but make sure you hide it from the other guards okay?" She heard a thump in her room. there was a thin blanket with some bread wrapped in it she ate the bread and wrapped the blanket around her several times, feeling much better but still cold. She wanted to ask this man why he was nicer than the rest, but she was afraid that would make the food and help go away.

"I know it's hard, but I've seen lots of kids like you make it... just try to listen to what they say, and do it, no matter what." She nodded. It had been about a week before she realized she was what people would call "a slave".

"What will happen to me?" She asked in a frightened voice. He sat up against her door, his voice was young but strong.

"If you're lucky you will get bought by someone who likes you and will be nice, but that probably won't happen... you are very cute, so it could go the other way, and you get sold to a house... if that happens, just try to kill yourself I guess." The coldness in his voice gave way to sadness. She wanted to know more but figured she should leave it at that.

"Want some more food?" Another chunk of bread plopped into her cell from a small window, she was faster than the rats and got it.

"How old are you anyway? You look about ten or so." She frowned.

"Nine..." He let out a sound of disgust.

"Look... I don't like what they are doing... but I don't have too much of a choice in this too, you understand? I get food when I want and I don't freeze at nights, but I can't leave either... in a way I'm a slave as well. but still... just listen to what they say alright?" She nodded

"Uh-huh." He was silent for a while and she drifted to sleep.

"Danger!" Her eyes snapped open, the blonde streaks of hair matted with dirt made her large eyes seem even bigger. Her cell door was open, but nobody was there. Wrapping the blanket tighter around she slowly took a peek outside the door. there were sounds of people running around and whispering as she heard all the doors form the cells next to her get unlocked and opened. What was going on? But then her answer came loud.

"Attack, elves!" It came from inside but soon all panic broke out, there were sounds of screaming and yelling, the sound of metal hitting metal, and then flesh. She ran back into her room and flung the blanket over her head, she was trying to be as small as she could make herself. Hours passed and after a while it was silent. When she stepped out into the hallway there were dead men everywhere, blood-colored the walls and floor but she just walked past them, everywhere she went the bodies of the dead lay around her. She hoped the nice one was not among these dead people.

A glint of silver caught her eye, a dagger lay in the hands of a dead man, it was well made, she knelt down and picked it up. Making a robe out of her blanket she looked for some water, a wine pouch was easy enough to find from a different body. As she walked out further she saw several people, they saw her immediately but did not seem to care.

"Just a human slave, not elf, leave her." One said, they agreed and jumped on a carriage that was filled with young elf slaves they were wrapped in thick looking blankets. All the men had long ears just like the ones they were rescuing. This was the first time Clementine would see an elf.

She shook her head, coming back to the present, for some reason this memory came to her whenever she looked at Zesshi for too long.

"Okay, there they are." Zesshi pointed at four hidden figures, they walked up silently so as to not attract the guards, but all the Beastmen were getting ready for the wedding so the guard was pretty lax at the moment.

The blonde maid pointed out the approaching agents.

"Hello ladies, what are we dealing with?" Clementine asked in a happy tone. The maid with the glasses answered softly.

"Lupusregina is getting ready and buying as much time as possible for us to set up an ambush, but she is worried as the power of the Chieftain is much stronger than she had imagined. Inside the giant house that the agents and maids hid outside of, Lupusregina was inside thinking.

"Lady Lupu, do you not wish to take a bath before your big night with Lord Yelkis Olliver Sage?" One of the Rabbitmen women who was assigned to Lupusregina asked.

"No, it's okay, hey so what his deal anyway?"

"His...deal? Lady Lupu?" She asked confused.

"I mean... what makes him so powerful? I hear even without this new power he has, he is pretty tough huh?" The Rabbitman woman put her hands together.

"Yes! Our Chief and Lord had never once been hurt in battle, and he was always on the forefront of the battle."

"Wow, never been hit? Even once?" Her eyes went wide.

"Oh no! Master Yelkiv Olliver Sage has been struck many times, hundreds even, but not once did any attack even leave a scratch on the great chief! Pain and injury simply do not apply to out great chief!" She said now becoming excited as a fangirl would. Lupusregina frowned, this sounded an awful lot like her Lord's ability to ignore damage from people far below his level. And if it was the same ability, only one of her sisters could even hurt him, and she was the only one not present. She cast [Message].

"Hey, I think only people above level 60 can even hurt this guy, do we know when Lord Ainz and his "clean up" team are coming? Only Narberal can even hurt him I think."

"Lord Ainz is dealing with The Baharuth Empires crisis at the moment, and his arrival has been delayed, also Lupusregina, we were tasked with this mission, I do not believe it proper to sit back and wait for Our Lord to come to do our jobs for us, it is us who should reduce the burden of work on Our Lord, not the other way around." Lupusregina could tell Yuri was annoyingly adjusting her glasses. Lupusregina sighed.

"Besides, there is one among us who should be able to fight him on his level. Do not bother our Lord until we have played all our hands." Yuri further instructed. Lupusregina knew what her beloved older sister had said wat the truth.

"Okay, then when this whole thing kicks off we'll just have to support our new agent then, huh?" Lupusregina asked Yuri said she was correct, their jobs would be to cull the Beastman guard so that Zesshi could fight the chief with no distractions, Lupusregina would stay hidden and provide healing and support to her during that time.

"Okay Lupusregina, I've told you what you need to know, as this has basically been your show now for some time, I feel it is up to you to provide the battle plan," Yuri said, she was testing her younger sister. Lupusregina began to think after she said she'd think of a great one, worthy of Nazarick even!

The agents and maids lying in wait outside talked among themselves.

"The overall plan will be to have Zesshi fight the Chieftain, we will kill all the Beastmen around the camp so we can back up Zesshi, Lupusregina will take cover and provide support to Zesshio exclusively during the fight." Zesshi nodded, she could easily beat this Beastman without any support, but she would not be so overconfident to turn to help down.

"Just leave the Beastmen to me, I can even provide a good distraction if you need that," Clementine said, but Yuri shook her head.

"Your job will be to get to the store entrance and make sure nobody can get inside," Clementine nodded, there was a service in that store that would send you anywhere you asked, if this chieftain got to it, there would be trouble.

"No, he would be considered too strong even to step foot in that store, he must somehow know this..." Clementine informed the group. Then CZ spoke up.

"Rules are posted..." She was looking through the scope of her magic gun at a small sign above the door, it was written in Yggdrasil writing and clearly stated: "only the weak may enter, the strong will be rejected." Shizu informed them.

"Okay and so just his troops have been using the store? That makes holding the storefront down easier for me." Clementine said pulling her mask down over her face. She was preparing for the attack. Then Lupusregina signaled Yuri that she was done thinking up the plan and told her sister what she wanted everyone to do, Yuri smiled, she was proud of the growth Lupusregina had shown on this mission, it was a good plan.

Far back in E-Rantel Ridda and Nabe were getting ready as well.

"Okay little one, we are all set to go to this store, you ready?" Nabe asked looking down at the girl in a black suit and long brown hair. Her pink eyes shown that she was determined to do this, Nabe smiled a bit. This girl had grown an awful lot in just a few days, but Momon walking into the room broke her train of thought.

"You already you two?" He asked, Ridda nodded but Momon knelt down to her so he could look eye level.

"Do not concern yourself with fighting, if you get caught up in a fight just concentrating on escape and defense, understood?" She nodded but asked a very surprising question.

"When this is over, and you have this "world item" and I have my revenge in that paladin... what will become of me?" She asked with eyes with knowledge beyond her young age.

"Eh? What do you mean?" He asked perplexed. She sighed as he assumed she was naive.

"Look, I understand why you are helping me, I am useful to you, and we made a deal, and I know you are a man of honor and will live up to that deal, but once that deal is fulfilled, what are your plans with me? I know that I was probably fated to a particular outcome the second I made that gold metal blade with my magic... nobody would let me just go with how valuable my skill has become... so I ask again, and please be honest... what will you do with me once I am no longer useful to you?" She asked with a determined expression. Nabe looked shocked but Momon sighed.

"I'm not going to lie to you Ridda, the selfish side of me did imagine throwing you into a room and making you provide metals for me..." She nodded as to say "figured as much."

"But I am not that kind of man, rather, I try not to be... and to be honest, the second I made you an official team member... you inherited my protection to it's fullest, I promise you, on my name and honor, I will not enslave you or exploit you for your abilities." He said nodding, she seemed to believe him immediately but thought of something.

"And if I had been able to produce this "prismatic ore," you asked me to try and make that other day?" There was a long silence from the raven black helmet.

"You would work for me, and "no" would not be an answer I would accept, but so long as you had a price, I would endeavor to fulfill that price, no matter the cost." Again she seemed satisfied with the honest answer. She thought again and nodded.

"Well, I only want to kill that woman... if you want to hire me to make metals for you after that... we can make a new deal after this one is fulfilled. Lock me up in a deep dark dungeon and whip me for all I care until I pass out... if you help me kill her, then it will be worth it and I will belong to you." Ainz shook his head.

"You are far too young to sell yourself away like that after you get your revenge, make a "terms and conditions" list for me, I will sign it without changing a single request. Again on my honor, I have no intention of exploiting a fellow member of my team." He finished saying and stood up. She nodded that she understood what he was saying. She was getting the carrot in this particular instance, and the stick was being handed to her to hurt the one she hated most, it was the best deal she would ever hope to get.

"So, with that settled, what say you and Nabe here go to this Dragon Kingdom for me and do a bit of shopping?" She nodded and Nabe smiled as she bowed to the knight.

"I have been assured that my involvement will not be necessary until the very end when we reap the rewards, so I will send you both as a sign of support, but again, do not engage in any form of fighting." She nodded but said one more thing that made Nabe's eyes flare with anger and brief hatred.

"Sir Momon, may I make a selfish request? And I would care to make this request... alone." She asked looking at the furious Nabe, but Nabe was already heading toward to door as a sign of some kind of respect, she left them alone.

"I am very curious, what do you want of me?" It was the only thing Nabe heard as she exited the room. That little girl certainly enjoyed pushing her luck. No matter she wasn't the worst human she had traveled with, at least she seemed to know her place in all this. Still, to ask more of their great Lord when he had already shown such kindness and mercy to her... it did not suit Narberal at all. But before not too long the two exited together, apparently, he had fulfilled her request as she looked almost happy for the first time ever.

"Okay Nabe, come back in," Ainz instructed and they went back to the room.

"A giant black portal was waiting for them in the room," Ainz, as Momon, was next to it making an "after you ladies." Motion with his arms and hands. the two walked through and they were suddenly outside. It was on the outskirts of the city, apparently there was some kind of spell that kept any kind of teleportation from happening within the Dragonic Capital, interesting nabe thought she'd have to inform her Lord of this, is it meant there was something strong in that city after all.

"Okay, let's get this over with," Nabe said silently and Ridda silently just followed her. They were teleported to the city that Yuri and Solution had cleared. There were tied up but dead. Most had acid burns covering them while others had bruises and broken limbs. Narberal recognized her sister's work. Ridda seemed less concerned with the blood and bodies than even Nabe.

"If we travel east from here we will come up to their camp before too long," Nabe said lifting her arm and pointing off into the direction they will be flying. They both cast [FLY] and silently hovered up into the air, the dark forest landscape pulled away from Ridda's feet as she looked down, the wind that whipped past her made her shiver but her escort was already on the move, she did not have time to sit here and relax. Nabe matched her flight speed with Ridda's and pulled up beside her.

"Make sure to stay back, some of these Beastmen will have range and magic attacks, just stay hidden and wait for us to finish fighting." Ridda didn't respond to the repeat in orders. Ridda wondered why she took such an interest in this her? Was it because her Lord made her a team member? Or just orders. Either way, Ridda never felt like she should let her guard down around her mentor. Not like Alis and Nero, around them she knew she had an unbreakable shield, but having that shield broken, and being too weak to do anything about it was the biggest shame she could feel. Nabe must have noticed her eyes tearing up, but assumed it was from the cold wind caused by their flight speed.

Ridda closed her eyes and flew in blackness, in her mind she saw her mothers face, the look of regret she saw on Alis would never be forgotten, in her final moments she thought she had failed at protecting her girls, she went to the grave believing she let her family die, not knowing the few seconds she bought were exactly what they had needed.

"I wish I could let her know..." It was a new wish Ridda felt when the rage didn't consume her every thought. Nabe cast her a slight glance.

"Ridda... can I tell you something." Her voice was still flat and cold but there was a tone of warmth to it deep down.

"The ones who made me... they are no longer here, like your mother and father... so I can at least understand how you might be feeling, but don't let the feelings of loss take over, instead cherish the ones who stayed behind for you and are here for you now." Ridda looked amazed at Nabe, this was the nicest thing she had said to her.

"So I should look at you and Sir Momon as my new mother and father?"

"Eh?" The question shattered Nabe's concentration and her flight spell was broken, she quickly recast it to remain in the air, but when she looked at Ridda she saw a slight smile. Nabe's face was still blushing at the mere mention of her as "mother and father" with her Lord Ainz! But Ridda had been teasing her, it was good that she felt this way around them. Seems she really felt like a team member after all. Little did Nabe know this was not just a joke to Ridda.

"You remind me of one of my sisters..." Nabe said as an image of a laughing werewolf with braids came to mind. Nabe never told a single person about how her sister Lupusregina would always make lewd comments and jokes to her when they were alone to tease her.

"Soooo Narberal, when are you gonna tell me about your "private moments" with our Lord out on the road together?" It was one of her favorite things to say when she got back from an adventure with her Lord as the adventurer Momon. It was true, of all the maids Narberal got the most "one on one" time with Ainz. But she would blush and deny any such acts and remind her sister of Lady Albedo! But as soon as she made Narberal blush Lupu would laugh and call her a pervert, she would never act that way in front of others...

"We must still be a way off, I can still can't make out the city from this high up," Ridda said looking at the sprawling black forest below them, her voice brought Nabe back to the present.

"We have a lot of time still as I hear this Chief is not rushing Lupusregina to get ready, It seems he's a patient man." She said with a smirk of how easily Lupusregina had wrapped this man around her finger. Handling men was a skill that she and Solution seemed to possess. Then on the horizon, tiny rows of lights appeared. nabe pointed them out to Ridda.

"There, we should be there soon." She said Ridda silently lowered her altitude as did Nabe. She cast [MESSAGE] to let her group know she was incoming, they directed them where to meet everyone as they waited for Lupusregina to give them the word. All the girls looked at Ridda curiously, none of them had expected another person to show up.

"This is Ridda, she was assigned by our um... Leader to do the "shopping" after we have secured the guild store and subdued all hostiles." Clementine walked right over to Ridda and knelt down to make contact with her. She sat in silence just looking her over then stood up and walked away. Ridda gave the rest of the girls a "what was that?" look. Most either shrugged or shook their heads. But Clementine giggled.

"You're a very cute girl," she said in an overly creepy tone, Zesshi sighed.

"Knock it off Clem, we got business to take care of." Clementine shrugged and laughed a bit.

"You Nazarick chicks are all the same, "business before pleasure." She bobbed her head back and forth, it would seem Clementine was feeling more like her "old self" again, for better or worse. A few of the maids let out a sigh of disgust but largely just ignored the new Nazarick agent.

"Anyway, all the Beastmen have been leaving the city, it looks like they want to have the ceremony in the forest area outside the city gates, this will make the battle much easier as it will away from the guild store," Yuri stressed, waiting had been the correct play. Suddenly Zesshi had a thought.

"Is this chieftain that I will be fighting, do you think he's stronger than Mare?" The question seemed very off-topic, but they all shook their heads.

"Not even close, Mare would single handily kill him and all the Beastmen here in one spell," Yuri said honestly, Zesshi smiled and nodded.

"Okay then, just tell me what to do, ladies." The half-elf said smiling. The Beastmen were now all carrying torches and making a ring for the couple to stand in during the ceremony. Others were setting up tables of "food" for the after-party. Some horribly gruesome decorations made from bones were also strewn about and hung from the various trees.

"Do Beastmen even get married?" Solution asked dubiously as they set up for the event.

"The leaders do I guess?" Shizu added. They were told just wait until the ceremony was underway before they spring the attack. And after a quiet couple of hours, the stage had been prepped, and before long it was time.

A huge parade of Beastmen of all kinds walked out into the area beneath the trees and all stood outside of the ring of fire they had made using the torches. The strange bone charms that hung all over the area from the trees swayed silently in the wind. It was dead silent. Yuri pointed to a female making her way to the circle of flame, she was followed by three Rabbitmen, it was Lupusregina, and she looked like she was ready to fight. As Narberal ran her gaze over the event she smiled as she noticed how grouped up the Beastmen were, some well-placed area of effect spells would go a long way in beginning the attack.

"There look," Solution whispered as a group of eight very well-armed Beastmen appeared, they seemed to be mostly made up of Gorrilamen and Minoutars, Beastmen with heads of bulls. They were holding impressive weaponry and wore great gear, this was his royal guard, or the "Tribute of Power" as they called themselves, and in the center of the group was a Beastman who looked very out of place. He was just a normal build, not huge with muscles like his bodyguard's and his only indication he was not human was the bull horns that protruded from his head. The group made their way to the ring and the Tribute of power encircled the whole area's outer area of the ring, and only Yelkis walked in the circle to join Lupusregina.

"Alright, soon as Lupusregina gives the word..." Yuri said, every woman had their part to play and they got into position. After a few seconds, a Snakeman approached the two holding a ceremonial looking staff and chalice. But before he could say even a single word, Lupusregina yelled out.

"Get em!" And then vanished from sight.


	22. Yelkis Olliver Sage vs. Zesshi

Clementine and Ridda

"Alright brat, let's go," Clementine said grabbing hold of Ridda's hand and pulling her along. Ridda yanked her hand away and cast [FLY]. Clementine pulled her mask down and the two made their way from rooftop to rooftop, keeping low to avoid any patrolling groups of Beastmen.

As soon as Clementine neutralized the guards protecting the store Ridda would enter and begin buying as much as she could afford hoping to get lucky and win the world item when she could buy no more she'd use the [GATE] service to meet up with Momon and give him the "all clear" at which point he'd [GATE] back with "a very large amount of gold" and they would continue this cycle until the store had not a single item left in its inventory, at which point Ridda would receive "dibbs" on any mana gear or mana regen gear as well as anything else she wanted to use (not counting any world items, she would give those up immediately to Momon personally. Clementine ducked behind some crates and motions for Ridda to float over.

"Shh, stay down," Clementine said annoyed that Ridda was standing too high, she ducked lower behind another crate, they heard the footsteps of three or more people. Three Bafolk walked past them but stopped. The lead Bafolk was about to say "I smell something." But before he could even open his mouth two black snake-like chain emerged from the darkness and rendered his head in half, as the two smaller ones were still recovering from being started by a sudden movement as Clementine rush past them both, large puncture wounds hissed out blood as they fell to the ground unable to cry out in pain.

"Weird how that is the only kind of guard we've seen," Ridda whispered. Clementine frowned as she cleaned her blades, she was right, which probably meant all the guards would be clumped at the entrance of the store. But when they snuck up on the store there were only two Beastmen, and they were a breed she had not encountered yet, they stood upright as most Beastmen did, But one had the head of a large jungle cat.

The Catman that stood to the right of the doorway was dark, nearly all-black coloring, his golden eyes literally glowed against the dark fur. He was wearing a robe that looked very foreign to the two blonds humans. It was made of some kind of silken material as it blew easily with a single gust of wind. It was black with red butterflies that would occasionally flap their wings, it matched his dark fur well. Clementine looked at the twin swords he carried at his hip, they were curved like the one that the swordsman who guarded Princess Renner had, but they were clearly very magical. All along his arms were strange tales of ropes that weaved all around his arms, they would change colors every so often. Finally, on his legs, he wore shinguards that made his legs translucent. Also, she noted, all along his tail were various magical rings and trinkets.

The one to the left of the door to the store was a Lizardman. His scales were white and looked very thick, they ran across his whole body. On his back, he had some tribal looking staff, but the gems and talisman that hung from it radiated amazing colors that would then turn pitch black, only to light up again a different amazing hue. Upon his head, there was a mask made from a skull of a young dragon, it matched his lizardman features quite well. His body had ice all over it, it reminded Ridda of her [MEATL SPIKE SUIT] spell as he had sharp jagged shards of ice sticking out all over his chest and arms. He held a small branch of a white tree in his left hand. His tail seemed to be a stub, at one point he had lost his tail it looked like. His legs were covered in blue scale armor that also looked to be made of dragonhide. He was adorned with many necklaces and rings, he was clearly a caster. Clementine clicker her tongue, the caster could prove to be trouble when they had someone to guard for them.

"Jesus those guys look seriously strong, will you be okay?" Ridda asked her legs and hands trembling, both of these Beastmen radiated an aura of confidence and experience.

"Aww, are you worried about me, that's so cute!" Clementine said pulling up her mask so Ridda could see her smile at her. Ridda said nothing.

"It should be fine, if I can get the drop on that lizard, then the other one will be a fun fight, but I'll go all out against him... so it will be over fast..." Clementine leaned it close to Ridda so that she was inches from her face.

"Do I get a kiss for good luck?" She asked in a sweet voice. Ridda just looked at her and blinked.

"You're fucking weird, you know that?" Ridda said shaking her head. Clementine just giggled.

"Alright, just sit back and be prepared to go, shopping kid," Clementine said growing serious and masking up. She took in a deep breath, held it in for a second as she pulled out both her stilettos, then exhaled and shot out so fast Ridda hadn't even seen her kick-off. Only a small puff of dirt remained where she had been. She loosed herself across the open street fired off like an arrow. Her target was the Lizardman caster, he'd defiantly die in one hit as all his gear no doubt was to enhance his magical capabilities, it was the counterattack of the Catman that worried her if he was a fast draw, and he was, she'd be in a little bit of trouble. She cast [PACE OF THE WIND] to increase her speed to account for the Catman. However.

A dirt wall sprang up just feet from Clementine, as it appeared from her feet just a foot away she could not avoid it and crashed face-first into the wall, the impact was severe and she felt her chest bones crack as she crashed through the wall, she slid across the ground and stopped not far from the two smirking Beastmen, her mask was knocked off and slid somewhere off into the darkness, she felt the familiar drop of power and speed when she did not have it covering her face.

"We could smell and hear both of you over there behind the building this whole time, is the other one going to come out or is it just you?" The Catman asked in a bored tone as Clementine coughed and got to her feet groaning in pain, her vision was blurry and her head throbbed, the hit had been very bad, but the two Beastmen were allowing her to regain her wits for some reason. She had an item that was already healing her, the fact that they did not press their advantage was very odd, but fortunate considering how badly she had just hurt herself.

"Just me, that one isn't allowed to fight." She said shaking her head and eyeing the two beastmen suspiciously. The white scaled Lizardman now held his ancient-looking staff in his other hand.

"Sorry about that [EARTH WALL], it's not really in our nature to fight until proper introductions are made, but you seemed very eager to start before we could do such traditions." The lizardman said bowing, Clementine just waited so she could heal a bit more.

"You may call me Death Eye of the snow, this is my new name as I forsook my old tribe name." He said bowing. Clementine eyed his stance, he did not seem to be getting aggressive just yet.

"I am the head druid and magic caster among the Beastman nation, and I am the personal counsel to Yelkis Olliver Sage." He rose from his bow and took a step backward casting a buff of protection on himself and the Catman. At that point, the Catman bowed deeply with respect then spoke calmly.

"I am Captain of the Tribute of Power, Shadow Flicker, the personal guard of Yelkis Olliver Sage, and the strongest in this nation, second only to the Great Cheif himself." He rose from his bow and unsheathed his curved swords. The one in his off-hand was about 2 inches shorter than the one in his main hand and looked like it was fresh with blood already and had a slick red liquid dripping from its curved blade. The longer sword just reflected the light in the street at very odd angles and along the blade, there was strange writing that looked to be made up of characters. (note: it's Japanese and it means "shinigami" or "God of Death".)

"Nice names, I'm just called Clementine." She said shrugging. The Catman spoke up very loudly so that the hiding Ridda could hear him.

"You there female human child, what is your name?" Ridda poked her head out and wove acting and sounding as innocently as she could.

"Ridda." She called back. He nodded then whispered something to the Lizardman pointing at her, the Lizardman nodded to whatever he'd been told.

"If you stay out of this fight Ridda we will not attack you until we deal with the bigger one." The Lizardman said as the Catman took up position between the caster at his back and Clementine in front of him.

[ABILITY BOOST] [GREATER ABILITY BOOST] she cast on herself as the Lizardman cast more spells onto himself and the Catman. She crouched down placing one blade against the ground and holding up the other one above her head and she rose her hips and got into her favorite pose then fired off at the Beastmen. She still had no intention of fighting that swordman two on one and intended to go right past him and one-shot the caster. He swung at her with both blades, the longer one missing but the shorter one scratching her shoulder. The scratch had been shallow, not even painful, but from the little cut, it made blood flow freely from it. She gave it no thought as she ran past the Catman but as soon as she passed his space a blue flash of light was all she could see. Painful lightning ran through her body, her muscles tensed up and cramped as they threatened to freeze and paralyze her.

"This is nothing..." She thought to herself as she pushed past the pain. This seemed to surprise the Lizardman as he was caught off guard by her continued advancement, but she heard a noise from behind her, the Catman was already counterattacking. With one arm outstretched she stabbed the Lizardman in his shoulder, she had aimed at his chest but he managed to hit her weapon with his staff, making her strike not fatal as she had planned. Her other hand was behind her, and even though she did not strike out with it she still activated [FIREBALL] the huge explosion was enough to hurt the Catman as he cried out as he ran facefirst into the burning fire, this would at least stun him long enough to finish off the caster. Clementine then activated [ACID SURGE] in the weapon that was plunged into the shoulder of the Lizardman.

"Hiissss!" He cried in pain. But the acid should have dissolved his whole torso, instead, it seemed to do nothing at all, it was only the stab that made the Lizardman cry out in pain. Acid immunity given to him from his staff saved him from getting melted to a puddle of goo. Clementine had no idea about this however as she was already facing the Catman who was just now recovering from the unexpected [FIREBALL] to his face. She then realized that her entire right arm was red with her blood, the scratch he gave her would bleed her out before not too long. Shadow Flicker jumped very high into the air, spinning dramatically like a dancer might but bringing both blades down onto her, she blocked his strike by crossing her stilettos and receiving the blow where they met. But the force broke her guard and she was driven hard into the ground.

The Catman landed on top of her from the impact of his strike defeating her block. Luckily both of his blades landed to either side of her head and chest, missing, but he had a follow-up attack only a beastman could perform, he leaned down and bit into her chest and shoulder. Clementine cried out in pain as her fresh blood filled his mouth, he then yanked her body into the air using only his clamped down jaws.

"Gaaahh!" Clementine yelled out again as her muscles were torn to shreds and her limp body was flung against the side of a house, a large splatter of blood marked her impact as she crumpled up against the wall. She dropped the Stiletto that was in her right hand, losing any use of that arm, but her fingers still worked a bit. The Lizardman was casting a healing spell on his wounded shoulder, so he was still busy. However, the Catman pressed his attack, running at Clementine. Luckily as he swung low to finish her off his sword chipped the ground and signaled Clementine to roll away, her instincts to dive left saved her as she felt the wind from a blade cut a few of her hairs, but miss. She dug her fingers painfully into the ground so that she could stop her rolling momentum.

"Grrrrr..." Clementine grunted out as this sent freezing waves of pain up her arm and into her chest, however, this act allowed her to stab at the exposed back of the Beastman with her other arm that still held it's weapon, she only managed to stab his thigh as he moved away from her unnaturally quick doing minimal damage. However Clemtines main target had not changed, she rolled over onto her back and hurled her Stiletto at the face of the lizardman who was still healing his wounded shoulder.

"Gurk?" Was all he made out as the pointed tip of her stiletto found it's mark between the eye socket of the Lizardman, going through his eye, piercing his brain, and smashing the back of his skull. This attack, however, left her open to the Catman's attack. His longer, main, blade slashed across her chest, but her magically enhanced dragon skin vest gave her slashing immunity, saving her life. Using the time of that failed attack she rolled away from the Catman. He was already running at her but she flung her, now completely useless, arm through the air sending a thick shower of blood into the open eyes of the Beastman.

"Graaaahhh!" He cried out in surprise as his vision was taken from him. He instinctively dropped his longer blade and tried to wipe the blood from his eyes. With his off-hand blade, he swung wildly at the air sending blood spraying from his sword. From behind her she produced a spiked mace and threw it at him with all her might with the one arm that still worked. This attack was one of desperation on her part, she knew it's effect would be minimal but as it did find it's marked against the blinded beastman he stumbled back even further yelling out in anger and surprise. Gritting her teeth she forced herself to rise up ran at the wide open Beastman, as she passed his dropped katana she swept it off the ground by kicking it up with her foot and catching it mid-air, and in one motion brought it across the torso of Shadow Flicker. The attack had not been deep, only cutting about half an inch into the Beastmans chest, but a black smoke erupted from his mild wound. He fell to the ground dead without so much as a cry of pain, killed instantly by the cursed blade.

"Haaaa!" Clementine exclaimed in victory, she fell to the ground just moments away from passing out, but once again her auto healing trinket was hard at work and slowly reduced the pain as it began to heal her. She lay there panting and groaning in pain not sure how she managed to win. After she recovered for a little bit she got to her feet but a sharp pain in her back made her fall back to her knees and coughing up blood, she looked down to see a spearhead, slick with blood sticking from the center of her chest, she tried to speak but only vomited up a torrent of blood.

"That was a fine display." An unexpected voice said as suddenly there was a different Lizardman standing over her, as he undid his invisibility. His eyes darted in different directions and he had a large horn from his nose, for lack of a better word this was a Chameleon Lizardman, the rarest of the species. His whole body was covered with pitch black leather armor similar to that of a ninja. He had a mask that covered his face as well, also black. In one hand he held a long spear that had blades coming off of both its ends. As Clementine's world went dark she made out the form of Ridda flying away at them, the Lizardman that had stabbed her yanked out the spear from her chest causing another gout of black and red blood to pour from her mouth and two open wounds and threw it like a javelin at the attacking mage. However, Clementine would die before seeing if he hit Ridda or not.

CZ2128 Delta, Narberal Gamma, Yuri Aplha, Solution Eplsion

As soon as Lupusregina called out and vanished the plan went into effect. Shizu had already identified and targeted the casters of the personal guard unit that looked troublesome. So as they went to cast mass protection spells and the like they were already getting shot in the face and head, countering their spells, many even fell dead. Free to choose her targets at will Narberal cast multiple [CHAIN DRAGON LIGHTNING] the attack leaped from one Beastman to the other with amazing efficiency, their bodies convulsing and smoking as the power cascaded through the ranks of the enemy. This followup attack to the masses of grouped up Beastman culled their numbers heavily in a few flashes of dragon shaped lightning and booming sounds of power and magic, a slight smile crept across her perfect face as she saw the smoking husks fall tot he ground. Solution was leaping into the fray soon as the lightning had run its course. As soon as she landed in the center of the Beastmen Yuri jumped out of her sister's body and they engaged the survivors in brutal melee combat.

As luck would have it only the members of Tribute of Power were armed, and as a large amount of that group was already dead there was no way the Beastmen stood any chance of hurting the two battle maids. Solution produced a black bladed short sword and swung at will, with every step and slice another screaming Demihuman fell. Yuri tore through the other side of the ranked Beastmen, with every powerful strike there was the sound like crashing thunder, a huge cloud of dirt and debris would be thrown up and many broken bodies of Demihuman would fly in various directions in their wake was a beautiful maid in a martial arts pose. The sudden and effective attack made the Beastman army, which was many now few, and during the chaos of this barrage the last member of the attack forced jumped into the center of the ring of fire where a very angry looking Godkin awaited his fellow Godkin challenger.

Lupusregina Beta and Zesshi

"So was I betrayed after all? That is a pity, you would have made me very happy." Yelkis said, looking directly at the invisible Lupusregina. She dropped her magic when she realized it was pointless. Zesshi said nothing but pulled her hood back and unsheathed her long katana. Yelkis slammed his foot onto the ground as large rocks all spun around him like he was the center of a small solar system and they were his planets. Then each fired off at Zesshi at an amazing speed, she had little trouble cutting them out of the air as she made her way closer to him. He smiled like a person taking their opponent's king in a game of chess.

"Predictable!" Yelkis said it was then Zesshis sword became unbelievably heavy, the stones she had cut had been magically created and reinforced clay that stuck to the blade, covering it with harmless clay and weighing it down considerably. Zesshi clicked her tongue as she dropped her blade. Magic it was then. Zesshi moved back receiving a burst of speed from Lupusregina's magic, upon doing so however Yelkis had already moved behind Lupusregina and was bringing down an ax kick onto her shoulderblade, the force drove the maid powerfully into the ground as more dust and debris was shot from the impact crater Lupusregina's body made.

"Gotcha..." Zesshi said smirking, she had tracked his movements perfectly and used the moment he drove Lupusregina into the earth and mud to cast her ace [REALITY SLASH] the cut through the very fabric of space and reality. It should have cleaved his head neatly from his head, but as the impact happened a golden bell rang then shattered as it absorbed all damage for the next few seconds. Yelkis looked shocked as he realized that would have not only hit but maybe even killed him outright.

"How are you able to hurt me?" He asked amazed but his answer was the spell [FLASH]. A bright burst of light burned the eyes fo Yelkis and the momentary stun it offered was when Zesshi used her second [REALITY SLASH], as expected the bell on his other horn shattered and consumed the lethal physical damage. Zesshi was annoyed that a man who "could never get hurt" still had enough foresight to protect against the possibility he might someday be able to. She could see he was using an ability so grew cautious, getting ready to dodge it. Yelkis punched into the earth and pulled from it a massive sphere of molten rock and earth several times the size of his body. His gloves glowed with magical fire as he lobbed the giant mound of burning death at Zesshi.

[GREATER TELEPORTATION] Zesshi easily avoided the attack and teleported to the opposite side of the lava ball so that it was flying away from her instead of at her. She followed that up with [TRUE DARK] a flood of dark and negative energy burst out and covered the whole area before in a gripping miasma of pain and death. Yelkis cried out in overwhelming pain and fell to the floor rendered immobile. However the lava ball then landed at the spot Zesshi had been standing and exploded behind her, many hot globs sprayed all over and many found their way to the back of Zesshi. Fortunately, her cloak gave her very high fire resistance so she could easily ignore the pain. She rose her hand for her final attack when his body burst into many leaves, it was a distraction ability followed up by activation of [INVISABILITY]. Zesshi suddenly had no idea where he was.

"Above..." A barely conscious Lupusregina said just faintly enough to hear. Zesshi leaped to the side as Yelkis came crashing down from above her with a powerful punch to the earth. [REALITY SLASH] her very last use of that spell, Yelkis brought up his arms and used an ability to block, but whatever ability he'd hoped would work, failed and Zesshi's attack found it's mark across his chest. He cried out in pain but did not fall over into separate pieces, he simply had enough "health points" to survive this brutal attack, as this was the first time he felt real pain he reeled back and fell to the floor gasping for air. As she was sure he was open and she only had enough mana for two more big spells she decided to kill him in her favorite manner.

[TURN EATHREAL] Yelkis suddenly became a ghost-like version of himself, this removed all the pain he was feeling and he was confused he tried to speak but the vaporous form could not talk. Then Zesshi cast [ASTRAL SMITE] with a flash he simply was gone, nothing left at all. She let out a loud sigh then turn to see how Lupusregina was doing. She was casting healing magic on herself and watching her sisters mopping up the rest of the Beastman army. It looks like as for now the Draconic nations could finally breathe easy from the Beastman threat.


	23. Perversion

Ainz tried again, he could not reach a single member of the team he'd sent to the Dragon Kingdom. Clementine could not be reached, neither could Ridda, Zesshi or any of the maids. He became slightly worried.

"Albedo, I can't reach anyone in The Draconic Kingdoms with [MESSAGE], is there anything wrong with the status of the maids?" Ainz asked the woman in a white dress next to him, she summoned a window and frowned.

"All the maids are fine other than CZ Delta, she has suffered extream physical damage and is currently in the process of auto repair." Albedo answered.

"What? She was hurt to point of self-repair? But not completely destroyed... that's good at least, but why can I not contact anyone there?" Albedo just shrugged and bowed apologetically. Ainz reached out and tried to cast [GATE] to the Draconic Kingdoms, but his spell was denied. Then an unfamiliar voice appeared in the head of Ainz. However, miles away and sometime before this, a decisive battle was being fought between a thirteen-year-old human and an elite Beastman.

Ridda saw it happen, the Lizardman appeared from thin air and drove his spear into the back of Clementine. She was told not to fight, told to run and hide, but running would not work, and seeing this woman who she just met run through the back, it triggered memories of Alis, the idea of running did not even occur to Ridda at all. She would kill this Beastman and complete the mission.

Before she began her charge she used a new spell she made, [METAL CHESTPLATE] she placed her hands on her chest, a sheet of adamntite formed on her black suit giving her a light, strong chest plate. As this docked most of her mana she'd have to win this with as little spells as possible, luckily thanks to all the training Nabe and she had done, she was much stronger than she used to be.

"Two spells... I can use two big spells..." She had also learned better control of her mana and knew exactly how much she had to use now. And with her plan in mind, she flew at the Lizardman full speed.

"Alis, Nero... help me out one last time, okay?" She prayed to her parents in her mind. The Lizardman wrenched the spear out of Clementines back and threw it at Ridda. This was the attack she had hoped for. [METAL LANCE] a spear fired out form her hands the same size as the one coming at her, the two spears collided in the air, her lance had been ripped to shreds by the spear, shit, it was magical! It had cut through her normal iron lance-like it was nothing. All she felt was regret as she saw the tip of the enemy spear flying directly at her chest, regret she had not been stronger, regret she had failed Alis and Momon and everyone, regret that she would not get to kill that woman.

Just as the spear was about to impale Ridda a dark object darted out from Ridda's shadow and smacked the spear away. In front of her was a shadowy figure, he was about her size and very thin, bat-like wings sprang from his back and he only had a single-arm, but at the end of that arm were long razor-sharp claws. The Lizardman looked shocked to see this thing appear.

"Um, I don't know who you are but thanks!" Ridda said. The Shadowman gave her a "thumbs up" motion with his only hand then pointed at the Lizardman. Ridda nodded, this guy was much stronger than she was, she was scared.

"Yeah I know, we need to kill him, just give me an opening and I'll kill him for sure." Again the shadow did "thumbs up." Ridda changed her plan, she walked boldly in the center of the street, halfway down that street was a Lizardman, behind him was the body of Clementine, and behind her was the store. Kill the Lizardman, get into the store. There might even be something in there that could revive the girl who just died...

"You are brave to challenge me, the great Shadow Skill, but two on one seems fair anyway." The Lizard said chuckling. She noted he had no weapons, probably that spear was his "go-to" weapon, but he might have a back up hidden somewhere, she'd have to be careful.

"Can you attack him from here?" The Shadowman gave a "thumbs down". She thought that was strange.

"Could you attack him if you abandoned me?" She asked, it looked at her and gave a very reluctant "thumbs up" but she could tell this was not it's orderes. Suddenly the Lizardman broke out into a fast run, he was not going to let them think up a plan, the Shadowman moved to intercept, it slashed out and caught Shadow Skill across the back as he passed him.

"Graahhh!" He cried as the claws found their mark. The Lizardman stopped his charge at Ridda and turned to focus on the shadow. He then placed his hands on his wrist pad and activated some kind of skill. there was a large puff of smoke and Ridda could not see what was happening. Her shadow bodyguard immediately appeared in front of her again in a defensive stance. From the dense smoke came a barrage of flying daggers, there were at least twelve flying at her, and they were all aimed perfectly. Ridda wanted to make a wall to hide behind, but that would be her only spell then she would be useless, so she resisted that urge and ran into the attack.

Her shadow demon moved with such speed and deflected seven blades from the air, Ridda put her forearms up shielding her face, she felt three daggers bounces off uselessly aginst her chest plate. Two blades stabbed into her raised arms shielding her face from the fatal attacks. However, she felt more blades penetrating her body. A blade each found it's way into her thighs one hitting her bone, cracking it. She fell back and cried out in pain, but she managed to not fall onto her back, instead, she fell forward onto her hands and knees. The shock of pain taking over her body, none of her limbs would work, when she ordered herself to stand only a painful rejection would follow and she slumped face-first to the ground.

A lesser or more arrogant opponent would probably think she was defeated and would move to attack the shadow demon, But Shadow Skill understood the cost of arrogance, so instead, he'd finish off the little girl with his most powerful ranged attack. He opened his mouth and shot out his tongue at lightning-fast speed, The shadow demon tried to intercept the attack but it blasted through him and dissipated his body easily, at the last second Ridda was able to get to her knees and take the blow directly in the center of her chest. The cracking of her ribs could be heard, she coughed out as the air was driven from her lungs and a thick spray of bloodshot from her mouth. Her vision went dark for a second, she lost focus in her eyes and began to sink into unconsciousness. But she focused on the pain and it brought her back.

"It held..." Was the next thought she had, she had spent so much mana on an adamntite breastplate because she intended to use it to block a melee attack, but this ranged attack suited her plan as well. Her ribs were shattered as was her leg, her whole body was in 100% pain but this was the plan. She grabbed the blades in each of her arms as her shadow demon was rematerializing where the outstretched tongue was. She stabbed his tongue which was stuck to her chest and about to fling her closer to him like a bug, but as she drove the knives into the sticky flesh so did the shadow demon and they both pulled. In order to lessen the pain of having blades pulled across his tongue the Lizardman instinctively leaned his head forward, this exposed his neck and...

"[METAL GUILLOTINE]" She gasped out with the last bit of air and mana in her body. A large long and heavy blade appeared above the Lizardman, it's blade ran at an angle, and it fell to the earth, cleanly severing the head of the Lizardman off its body. The head bounced a few timed on the ground as she let go of the knives and fell face first, not able to breathe.

"Not over..." She groaned in her head and crawled inch by inch to the store, arm over arm leaving a smearing blood trail but she was too filled with pain to even care about the new pain of moving. She made it past the headless body of the Lizardman, kept going as her shadow demon kept a lookout for her. She finally passed the dead body of the blonde assassin that guided her here.

"Almost there..." She thought and coughed up some more blood but still dragged herself to the store, finally at the door she nudged it open, thankfully it did not have a lock and crawled in. As soon as she made it in a man was standing there.

"My you look terrible! Let's get you healed." The man in a black and white suit and pencil-thin mustache touched her and all her wounds were gone, she felt no more pain and she could move and breathe normally again. After the shock of her ordeal wore off she turned to the shopkeep and places some platinum coins on the counter.

"Your best mana pool and mana regen gear... and a scroll of [MESSAGE]." She ordered. The man smiled and two earrings of incredible make appeared as did an amulet with a light blue gem set in it, also a pair of blue and white leather gloves. He handed her the requested scroll and the coins on the table vanished and were replaced by 3 gold, her change.

On the other side of the city on the outskirts of the forest, the maid sisters all met up finally killing off the last of the Beastmen. Lupusregina was already casting [MESSAGE], the blonde agent did not respond so she tried the girl Ridda, the spell could not be connected to her either.

"Everything okay over there?" Yuri asked seeing the look of confusion on her sister's face.

"Uh no, I can't contact anyone using [MESSAGE]," Lupusregina admitted. Yuri frowned.

"The agents we sent to clear the store?" Yuri asked but she shook her head.

"Nobody, I can't contact anyone with [MESSAGE] at all," Lupusregina said confused. The others tried, and even could not [MESSAGE] the maids right next to them. Then they realized it. Their magic was being blocked, there was still a threat about. They all formed up to surround Zesshi and Narberal, it was a natural defensive form. They had their backs to the casters of Zesshi and Narberal who were in the protected center as they all faced out in a different direction.

"Oh right, well that would be my fault I guess." Standing directly between Zesshi Narberal and in the center of the maid circle was a man with silver hair tied back into a ponytail with pure white eyes. His coat was masterly made and matched his pure white shirt and slacks. All the women leaped away from this unexpected intruder, but he gave no movement.

"Who are you?" Yuri demanded. He looked at her direction but did not say a thing, instead just ran his eyes over all the girls, his gaze would linger on one a bit then would move to the next as he evaluated them all. He reached out his hand and pointed to each of the women and said one word.

"Yes." Yuri.

"Yes." Lupusregina.

"Yes." Zesshi.

"Yes." Narberal.

"Yes." Solution.

Then when he pointed to Shizu he frowned.

"No." He simply stated and made a flicking motion. And with that, it was as if a truck had slammed into Shizu as an unseen forced blasted her to pieces, her metal arms, and legs, as well as her head, were blasted apart from her body. All the eyes of the maids went wide as they watched their little sister get snubbed out like it was nothing. They all tried to make demands of him but they were all paralyzed, he had done it when pointing at them. He was using magic with no cast time or showing at all, it was as if he wasn't even using tier magic at all.

"Machines don't do it for me, however, the rest of you will do just fine." He said smiling, his young chiseled features made his smile very appealing but the hint of cruelty in his eye spoke to his plans, and they were not kind.

"Anyway please go wait for me at my keep, I'll be along shortly to entertain each of you." He clapped his hands and all the maids and Zesshi with the exception of Shizu were gone.

"Ugh. Now to deal with the other one." He said out loud and blinked to the store where Ridda was making purchases.

"What do you mean the [GATE] service is down?" Ridda asked. but the man with the pencil thin mustache only shook his head.

"I'm sorry but I do not know why, but I am unable to cast [GATE]." He said bowing apologetically.

"It might be due to the man outside the door." Ridda spun and backed away from the door. There should not be anyone there, especially a "man".

"Who's out there?" She called out. But she just heard a laugh.

"Don't worry little one, I don't have a problem with young girls, why not just come out and you can join all your maid friends in my keep?" He sounded nice but his words held certain implications that brought back very old and forgotten memories. She knew that inside this store she was safest.

"Like I'd do that!" She spat. Getting ready to fight.

"It's fine, I'll be sending in some people for you soon so just hold tight as I talk your owner..." He said.

Back in Nazarick Ainz Ooal Gown got a very unexpected [MESSAGE].

"Um yes, this is that "sorcerer King" I've heard so much about? I am speaking with Ainz Ooal Gown am I not?" Ainz was shocked but remained calm.

"Yes, you are addressing Ainz Ooal Gown, who is this?" He asked curiously.

"Well, this is the one who plans you've been stepping all over for my kingdom I made. And I am not too happy about this you see," The voice said. Before Ainz could say anything he spoke again in a confident tone.

"So here is what's going on Sorcerer King, I am laying claim to this nation of the Dragon kingdom, rightfully, I might add, and as this store you seek just so happens to be on my land, I am officially laying claim to that as well... your maids have been confiscated as punishment for you trespassing onto my lands and will be used as my own personal playthings. And that's it, any further action on the Sorcer Kingdoms behalf will be considered an open act of war, and I will respond accordingly." The voice in his head said.

"Your personal... you still haven't given me your name!" Ainz said becoming so angry his emotions had to stabilize him several times.

"Ah, I figured that much was obvious, I am The Brightness Dragon Lord." Ainz stood up in shock, but then something he said returned.

"You honestly think I will hand over citizens of my country?" Ainz said darkly to the voice in his head.

"I do not care if you "hand me" them or not, they are mine to use as I see fit, so I can "use them" gently or I can "use them" very rough, I'm sure you get where I'm going with this? You're actions determine how well I treat your former maids, that elf girl, and even the human child, I would worry most for her if I were you. And so as I've said all I want to say, this talk is over. I trust our kingdoms will have a great future working together, by staying out of each others business." And with that, the [MESSAGE] was over. Aniz stood in his throne room, Albedo looked panicked as she could tell something very bad had just happened.

"Lord Ainz what's wrong? Lord Ainz? Lord Ainz?" She called to him but he was so deep in thought he could not hear her. He felt that for the first time since coming here, to this, new world, he had lost at something, and he had lost valued members of Nazarick...

EPILOGUE

"He's finally made his move." A gold dragon said crawling into a room where a large Platinum Dragon Lord sat upon a large platform, he was surrounded by various old and strong artifacts of extreme power. He gazed upon a floating silver mirror.

"Yes, I know, how do we look from our end?" The golden dragon nodded.

"I don't know what kind of luck we have, but those women showing up out of nowhere like that was all we needed." The gold dragon said to the very much larger Dragon Lord.

"So then the [WATER WAY] is open to that lake with the Lizardmen and all those other demihumans who worship Ainz Ooal Gown?" The gold dragon nodded.

"My sisters magic is strong, we have a direct link to that lake, if the need arises we can support Brightness Dragon Lord when the war begins." He said.

"Fine, I never expected Brightness to wage war like this though." He shook his head.

"Who even knows with that guy, he could just up and leave halfway through this war he's starting for all we know." The large Platinum Dragon said shrugging, figuring out the mind of Brightness was a lesson in madness.

"As I said, we seem to be having very good luck, but still Brightness? Ugh, that guy is so weird..." The gold dragon said rolling his eyes.

"I know, but he holds that guild store, with time he will have a very strong army." Platinum Dragon Lord said sighing loudly. The smaller gold dragon scratched his head. The platinum dragon looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"It's just, I wonder... if going to war against another player like this is wise?" The larger dragon nodded.

"We've seen what players do to this world, even the ones who try and help end up damaging things more than the ones who just tried to take it over."

"Ah, yes, you mean the big guy way down below us?" The dragon said sticking out his forked tongue. Again the big one nodded.

"Well no matter, how will the other Dragon Lords react now that Brightness has returned?" The younger dragon asked

"Suveria Myronsilk will attempt to make an official alliance between The Dragonic Kingdoms and our Argland Council, obviously I will try to help with this endeavor, Draudillon will listen to Brightness, she has no real choice in the matter. Deep Darkness will still ignore us as he always has, so will Heavenly, I suppose we will give him a good show at any rate." Platinum explained to his son.

"And uh... if Elder Coffin shows up?" Platinum now flared up his eyes glaring angrily but calmed down.

"We will deal with him when and if he shows up, but he'd no doubt side with this Sorcerer King." He growled. He sat up and readjusted himself.

"And as if our good luck wasn't good enough, guess who's waking up from his nap?" He asked his son, the golden dragon smiled.

"Well I know what Demon Tree will do when he wakes up, he's very cranky I hear." The gold dragon said laughing a bit.

"Yeah, those Goblins at Carne Fortress are in for a rude surprise soon, anyway as they are aligned with The Sorcerer Kingdom, this favors us, he might even attack E-Rantel after he crushes Carne... if our good luck keeps holding out that is." The Platinum Dragon Lords said smiling.

"Okay I will go tell sis to get ready, we know what we need to do." The Golden dragon said waving and walking away, leaving The Larger one alone. He looked at the hollow suit of armor, he too had a lot of work to do.

"Another war will begin, but this time we will take make the first strike..." He mused to himself.

Meanwhile, in the Dragonic kingdoms, a scared little brown-haired girl with pink eyes was preparing to hold the store she sat in as long she could, she produced a golden blade after golden blade, buying up everything she could use until she could not make any more, but a few mana potions would cure that and then she'd start making more gold to buy more gear, she even got lucky with her raffle card and was awarded that "world Item" Sir Momon wanted so badly. She looked at the adamantite walls she'd made to seal off the entrance, she wondered how long they would last.

Many many miles to the west a woman walks toward the Holy City, capital of the Slane Theocracy. Her approach had been noted and the full might of the capital city guard stood to fend her off. Remedios let all five gems fall to the ground.

"Fire, acid, ice, cloud, metal generals come" In the place of the colored gem sprang a sinister-looking undead. The battle for The Holy City was about to begin...

THE END (to be continued in OVERLORD: Side Adventures vol.3 Dragon Lords War)


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